


The Juiciest Jedi-Senator Romance Since Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala

by radioactivesaltghoul



Series: when in doubt, fake a relationship [5]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (someone else grew snoke in a lab i guess?), AU - Palpatine Stayed Dead, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Ben Solo, Bisexual Rey (Star Wars), Demisexual Ben Solo, Demisexual Rey (Star Wars), Eventual Smut, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Force Dyad (Star Wars), Idiots in Love, Jedi Rey (Star Wars), Mutual Pining, No Pregnancy, Obligatory Reylo Angst, Overly Convoluted Reasons to Fake a Relationship, Past Ben Solo/Tai, Past Jannah (Star Wars)/Rey (Star Wars), Senator Ben Solo, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Varykino (Star Wars), an abundance of tropes, it's a jedi/senator au of course they go to varykino at some point, plot elements blatantly stolen from canon, pure of heart and dumb of ass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:49:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28099473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivesaltghoul/pseuds/radioactivesaltghoul
Summary: After the second attempt on Chandrilan Senator Ben Solo’s life in the course of a week, his mother and uncle have decided that the best thing to do is for Luke’s most recently knighted Jedi to come serve as his bodyguard. Ben thinks that having a very public bodyguard will make him look weak; Rey simply wants her first mission as a full-fledged Jedi Knight to go off without a hitch. The solution, according to Lando Calrissian, is to pretend that Rey and Ben are so deeply in love that nobody realizes she’s actually his bodyguard.The problem is neither of them is quite prepared for the consequences of holding up the facade of a very public relationship, nor do they anticipate the true motivation behind the attacks on Ben’s life.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: when in doubt, fake a relationship [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865542
Comments: 90
Kudos: 140
Collections: Queerly Beloved Reylo Fics





	1. The Galaxy’s Most Dramatic Family Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I started this nearly a year ago when @reylo_prompts tweeted “Curious Cat Prompt: “After an attempt on the Alderaanian prince's life, Ben gets assigned a Jedi bodyguard. Rey poses as his girlfriend. Cue Cinderella love story, bed-sharing, and fake proposal mid-Gala. Luke’s amused, Rey’s frustrated, Ben’s smitten, Leia plans the wedding” and [I claimed it was "trope catnip for me."](https://twitter.com/r_saltghoul/status/1210374252089823232) This diverted from the prompt and took on a life of its own and somehow a fic I thought would be ~20k words turned into the longest thing I've ever written.
> 
> A huge thank you to anyone who's listened to me ~~panic~~ talk about this fic, and an extra huge thank you to persimonne and MissCoppelia for beta'ing and reassuring me that my outline wasn't complete gibberish.
> 
> Mind the tags and buckle up, folks. It's gonna be a slow burn.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Breaking news! Senator Ben Solo of Chandrila survives yet another attack on his life. Little is known about the motivation behind the attack, but there is no shortage of reasons why someone would target Senator Solo in an attempt to bring chaos to the Galactic Senate. More to come as the story develops._ \- Coruscant Daily Tribune, 34/03/20 ABY

_“And in other news, the second attempt on Chandrilan Senator Ben Solo’s life in the past week has left no lasting damage on the senator or any of his senatorial staff; however, the would-be assassins are still at large. Citizens with any relevant information are encouraged to come forward with information…”_

Ben slammed the off button on the holoscreen, silencing the broadcast. “We really don’t know who’s behind this?” he asked, gingerly touching the bacta on his cheek. “It’s not as if Chandrila is particularly controversial by Core World standards.”

Korr Sella, his long-suffering friend and senatorial assistant, gave him a look. She and Ben had met years ago when she was an intern for Leia’s office. After Ben had decided to run for Chandrila’s representation in the Senate, she’d started working with him instead. He doubted he'd have done half as well without her around, and she knew it. “With all due respect, Chandrila may not be controversial, but _you_ are.”

He scowled. This was the thing he hated about politics. All he wanted was to leave the galaxy in a better state than he entered it in, and yet half of the gossip rags in the galaxy suggested that he had only been elected for his looks. The other half implied that it was his mother’s name that had gotten him elected; it was the reason he’d dropped it in favor of using his father’s.

“So what, you’re suggesting that someone tried to kill me because of holonet gossip?” he snapped.

“It could be any number of things,” Korr replied. “The Senate security team is looking into it, and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker—”

“You can just say ‘your uncle’—”

“—is on his way here right now, accompanied by one of his knights, and both of your parents are on their way as well.” Korr double-checked her holopad. “Oh, and Lando Calrissian is coming, too.”

“What’s Lando doing on Hosnian Prime?” Ben asked.

“I believe he was having dinner with your parents when they received the call that there had been an attempt on your life.”

He sighed. Great. So the whole galaxy knew someone was after his head and he was about to be surrounded by his family and one of Ben’s former classmates who had since earned the title “Jedi Knight.”

Ben’s Force-sensitivity had always been a point of contention in his family. When Luke first announced that he was going to form a new Jedi Order, he told Leia that he wanted Ben to be part of the first cohort of students. Ben, who was ten at the time, had been thrilled at the opportunity to become a Jedi like his uncle. But after a few years of training, he realized that it wasn’t right for him. His classmates were uncomfortable with how powerful he was, and ultimately he felt he couldn’t escape his uncle’s shadow.

The result was Ben running away in the middle of the night when he was sixteen and hiding out with Lando for the next six months. Lando may not have been a relative by blood, but he’d always made sure that Ben knew he was welcome there. “I won’t tell anyone where you are,” he’d said the night Ben showed up, “but if your parents ask, I’m not going to lie to them.”

Ben had been too relieved to be away from the claustrophobia of living so closely among Force-sensitives—most of whom didn’t really like him—to argue with Lando. “I just need some time to think right now,” he’d explained. “I don’t want to go back to Luke.”

“I can give you that,” Lando had said.

In the end, Ben had gone back to Hosnian Prime with Leia, a path that ultimately led to him becoming a politician on Chandrila. He hadn't seen or spoken to Luke since that night, nor had he tapped into any of his Force sensitivity aside from holding the mental shields he’d built so long ago that maintaining them was a reflex.

As far as the public was concerned, he was a senator who came from a line of popular senators: Leia Organa, Bail Organa, and Padme Amidala. (The fact that the father of Padme's children had been the man who became Darth Vader, well...fortunately for Ben, the general population was more impressed by his family's ties to Padme than they were horrified that he was the grandson of Darth Vader.)

All of this was to say: it had been over a decade since Ben and Luke had seen each other, and he had no desire to have any Jedi involvement in his life.

"Ben?" The sound of Korr's voice knocked him out of his thoughts. "You still with me?"

He sighed, glancing down at his datapad. "How much time do we have until everyone gets here?"

* * *

The two hours between learning that he'd be seeing his uncle for the first time since running away and when Han, Leia, and Lando showed up to Ben's apartment weren't nearly long enough. "I'm glad you're okay," Leia said, pulling Ben into a hug. "We were so scared when we heard the news."

Ben loved his mother, but she worried too much about him. "I'm fine," he told her, pulling back from her embrace. "Don't worry about me, Mom. How are you?"

"Better, now that I've seen for myself that you're alright." They didn't touch on the fact that she'd have known if he'd been seriously injured through the Force. That was fine by Ben. Like him, Leia had been happy to leave "the Jedi stuff," as she put it, to Luke.

Han didn’t make a move to embrace Ben like Leia had—which was no surprise, given Han’s hands-off approach to parenting—but he was visibly relieved to see that Ben was unharmed. “Glad to see you’re alright, kid,” he murmured as he stepped past Ben.

Korr was already seated at the table in Ben's dining room, tapping something out on her datapad. "Leia," she said, standing up to greet her former boss.

The two of them chatted quietly, catching up while Ben poured three glasses of whiskey. "Cheers," he muttered, handing one to Lando and another to Han.

"How long's it been?" Lando asked quietly.

"Thirteen years," Ben murmured.

"Really?” Han asked. “I could have sworn you were knocking on Lando’s door only a few years ago. We must be getting old."

Ben grimaced. "And yet it still hasn’t been nearly long enough since I left the Jedi Order."

It had occurred to him in the hours since receiving word that Luke was on his way that without knowing who was accompanying his uncle, Ben had no idea how to prepare himself for being face-to-face with one of his former classmates. There was only one person he’d ever been on good terms with, and he was pretty sure he’d broken Tai’s heart when he’d left the Order without so much as a backward glance.

Kriff. They’d kept their relationship on the down low, but it was difficult to hide that sort of thing from other Force-sensitives. Ben had no idea if Luke had ever found out, and even if he was aware of their history, he might not have the tact to show up and expect Ben’s ex to be his new Jedi bodyguard.

Something in Ben’s expression must have given his anxiety away, because Lando asked, "How are you really doing?"

He sighed, feeling some of the tension in his body deflate. "I don't like this plan and I don't agree to it."

"Then it’s too bad you're not the only one who has a say in this,” Han said. “You're too high-profile, kid. You can't just act like these attempts on your life are just a normal part of being a politician."

"Says who?" Ben countered.

Lando scoffed. "Come on, you're not that naive."

He had a point. Rather than figure out a response, Ben knocked back the rest of his drink and got up to pour another. He was in the middle of reaching for the bottle when a chime echoed through his apartment, signaling the arrival of another guest.

Ben reached out in the Force, something he hadn’t been able to stop doing since the first attempt on his life five days ago. Security cameras could be fooled. That was how the assassins had nearly gotten him both times.

As expected, there were two life forms on the other side of the door. One practically crackled in Luke's familiar energy signature, but Ben couldn’t place the other. Had Luke brought someone other than one of the knights Ben had trained with? He'd never considered the possibility that there would be fully trained knights outside of Ben's inaugural class.

But if that was the case, why was there something so familiar about this stranger’s Force signature?

"Oh, for stars' sakes," Korr muttered. "Let them in, Ben."

He shot her a glare, but didn't say anything as he walked over to the door to greet his unwelcome guests.

Luke had aged more than Ben had expected him to. His blue eyes still looked just as sharp as they did in Ben's memories, but his hair was considerably grayer now than it had been. "Uncle Luke," he said, the words feeling strange on his tongue.

"Hey, kid," Luke said. There was an awkward moment where Ben tried to figure out if Luke was going to attempt to embrace him, but he must have thought better of it, because he stepped back to indicate the woman standing next to him. "This is Rey. She's my most recently knighted Jedi."

All this time, Ben had been preparing himself to have to deal with one of his former classmates. What he wasn't expecting was this stranger who must have arrived after he'd left. How long after he'd left, though? She couldn't have been older than twenty, and if she was a full knight, she had to have started training around the time that Ben had dropped out.

Ben couldn’t have said what he was expecting a Jedi Knight to look like, but it wasn’t Rey. She wore the traditional tan robes of a Jedi with a lightsaber hanging from her belt with a hilt that looked longer than any Ben had seen before, although he probably shouldn't have been surprised he didn’t recognize it, given how hard he avoided any mention of anything Jedi-related. There was no way the three bun style she donned was a part of the Jedi uniform, but he bit his tongue before he could let that comment slip.

He didn't even realize that he'd been staring at her until she blushed and stuck out her hand to shake his. "Senator Solo," she said. "It's an honor to meet you. I've heard so much about you from Master Skywalker."

Ben could not think of a single good thing Luke would have said about him, but he took Rey's hand in his as an automatic gesture from years of politics. There was a bit of a shock when their fingers touched, making him wonder where she'd picked up the static. Her hand was warm, and he could feel calluses that she must have gotten from lightsaber training. "It's nice to meet you as well, Master Rey. Please, come in."

The supposed familiarity in her Force signature must be due to his faulty memory, Ben decided. He’d simply forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by trained Force-sensitives. As far as he was aware, he and Leia were the only Force-sensitive senators active in galactic politics, and neither of them were trained Jedi.

He led Luke and Rey into the dining room where greetings and introductions could be made. Rey and Leia already knew each other, apparently, leading Ben to wonder how often his mother made the trip out to Yavin IV these days. The times when she or Han had been able to set their jobs aside for long enough to visit their own son were few; he tried not to be hurt at the idea that his mother had finally decided to make her family a bigger priority than her career. Their relationship had come a long way since he left the Jedi path behind, but it was still difficult to think about the number of times he’d gotten holos saying _Sorry, kid, something came up and we can’t visit you_ when he was training with Luke.

It only took a minute or so for greetings to be exchanged before Luke started in on why this was necessary. "You can't just ignore this, Ben," he said. "Once was bad enough. But twice in one week? We can't leave this to chance. The Jedi of the Old Republic often provided their services as protectors and bodyguards in times of need. I'd like the new Jedi Order to start doing the same, now that we have enough trained Jedi to do so."

"As I've said multiple times," Ben replied, fighting to keep an even tone. "I'm fine. I don't need a bodyguard. If I suddenly start parading around with a Jedi in tow, people will think I'm scared, and I can't have that."

"You should be scared!" Luke snapped. "This is serious. It speaks to changes happening outside of the Senate floor. The only reason you aren't already dead is luck and your half-assed Jedi training coming out to save your neck."

"I was fine then, and I'll be fine if it happens again. I don't need the Force." The last sentence came out more petulant than Ben had intended, and he found himself looking to Rey for a reaction. Had Luke warned her that Ben was a Jedi school drop-out? He hadn't felt her tapping at his mental shields, but that didn't mean that she wasn't cataloging his every move.

She wore a carefully neutral expression, although her eyes kept darting around the room as the conversation heated up. Was she disappointed to find out that the famous Skywalker-Organa-Solo family wasn’t nearly as holo-perfect as it seemed in textbooks? Ben would have been if he were her.

Stars, she was pretty. Even in the neutral colors and bulky robes favored by the Jedi Order, there was no hiding the hazel of her eyes or the dusting of freckles on her cheeks. He didn’t make a habit of leering at strangers—or anyone, come to think of it—but he couldn’t stop himself from sneaking glances at her in between arguments.

What did she think of the whole thing, he wondered? Part of the reason why Ben made such a formidable senator was his ability to analyze his opponents (without help from the Force, thank you), but he wasn’t getting anything from her.

_Fucking Jedi._

"There must be some way we can work this out," Leia said, ever the peacemaker. "Ben. You know this is for the best. Why are you fighting against this so hard?"

He gritted his teeth. "I told you,” he said, reminding himself of all the reasons why it was bad to start an argument with anyone in this family. “It will make me look weak if a Jedi starts hanging around me all the time. I can't have my constituents or my political opponents thinking that I'm weak or worse, scared."

"Kriff your political opponents, Ben!” she snapped. “You can't do shit against them if you're dead."

He hadn’t realized until then just how scared Leia was. It nearly made him reconsider his stance, but..."No,” he said, shaking his head. “I'm not budging on this."

What he didn’t voice—what he was certain everyone in the room except for Rey knew—was that he refused to have any Jedi Order involvement in his life ever again.

The conversation devolved into more and more arguing. Korr was trying to take notes, bless her, but Ben had half a mind to tell her to go home. This was starting to feel like a family affair more than a business one. Han and Lando were conspicuously silent, nursing their drinks as they watched everyone argue.

Rey’s silence, however, was even more conspicuous, considering the reason she was present. Ben had a hard time believing that the Jedi were now following the famous Master Skywalker so blindly that they would just sit back and relax while he got into an argument with his family, and yet she hadn’t said a word since their introductions. He almost wondered if he should bring her into it...but there was really no need to bring even more shouting into the conversation.

In the end, it didn’t take much more for the argument to blow over. The air was practically crackling with the frustration between three powerful Force-sensitives by the end of it, and Ben wouldn't have been surprised if something in his apartment went up in flames from the combined force of their yelling. "Get out of my home," Ben shouted at Luke. "I'm not going to change my mind. You're wasting your time."

"No, I'm not—" Luke began, but Leia cut him off.

"How about this," she said, sounding far calmer than she actually was at the moment. Surely even Force-blind Korr, Han, and Lando could sense the tension rolling off of her in waves by now. "It's getting late. We're all a little worked up over the events of today. Why don't we sleep on it and come back to this in the morning?" She gave Ben a look daring him to argue with her.

He’d been glaring at Luke, but he ripped his gaze away to look at Leia. "Fine," he snapped, ready for everyone to get the hell out of his apartment and leave him in peace. "But my answer isn't going to change in the morning."

He could practically hear both his mother and his uncle thinking _We'll see about that,_ but neither of them said anything. "Come on," Han said to Luke and Leia. "Let’s let the kid get some rest. He deserves it.”

Ben barely stopped himself from snapping _I’m not a kid_ , instead focusing on taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down.

“I’ve got something I want to show you back at my office,” Leia said. It sounded like the most transparent excuse Ben had ever seen until she added, “Rey is welcome to join if she wants."

They all looked at Rey, who decided to speak up for the first time since introducing herself. "No, that's okay, Senator Organa,” she said with a quick glance in Ben’s direction. “I'll catch up with Master Skywalker later."

Was she planning on staying in his apartment, arguing with him about this until he changed his mind? If so, she'd greatly underestimated how stubborn he was. Maybe he couldn’t hold up to a Jedi knight in a sparring match, but he had no qualms about kicking her out. She wasn’t small, exactly, but she didn’t have size on her side like Ben did.

Luke didn't say another word to Ben before he, Han, and Leia left, murmuring instructions to Rey that Ben didn’t catch. Korr left not long after that, telling Ben she'd be back in the morning as well. Their relationship wasn’t as distant as boss-and-employee—she’d spent enough time around him when she interned for Leia before Ben was ready for a senatorial assistant of his own—but she was clearly uncomfortable with the argument she’d found herself observing.

That just left Rey, Ben, and Lando, who was standing up to pour himself another drink. "Well," he said, refilling Ben's glass as well. "That went well."

"You think?" Ben snapped. He looked at Rey, who was still leaning against the wall. "Is there a reason you're still here?"

"Ben," Lando chided as Rey turned pink. "That's no way to speak to your new Jedi bodyguard."

"Did you not just hear what I said? I refuse—"

"Did it occur to any of you to ask me what I wanted?"

Ben froze, then clamped his jaw shut. It hadn't, actually. He'd assumed that Rey was going along with whatever Master Skywalker told her to, like a good little Jedi. "I'm not making you stay here," he told her. "You're welcome to leave at any time."

In response, she sat down at the table across from Ben. "I know," she said. "And I understand what you're saying about not wanting to show weakness."

"Do you?” He made no attempt to hide the condescension in his tone. There was no reason to play nice. “Aren't all Jedi about maintaining the balance of the Force and wasting time meditating?"

"I thought you'd trained as a Jedi for a little while,” she retorted. “Surely you know otherwise."

She had a point. Still, Ben didn't want to give any indication that he was going to change his mind. Because he wasn’t. Obviously. "And?"

"Has it occurred to you that this isn't just about you?" she asked.

What else could it possibly be about? "Well, considering how many times everyone's told me that it's not my choice,” he snapped, “yes."

"No, that's not what I meant," she replied, shaking her head. "This is my opportunity to prove to Master Skywalker that I'm capable of doing this on my own. Did you know that I'm the youngest Jedi he's knighted yet?"

Ben hadn't known that, but that would explain why Luke had chosen her to bring along. "So what, this is your first job as a freshly-minted Jedi knight?"

"Yes, exactly," she said. "Master Tionne found me on Jakku when I was six years old and brought me to Master Skywalker's temple to train as a Jedi knight. I was just this orphan kid who came from nowhere. I still need to prove that I belong."

"If he's made you a knight, I'd say you've proven that," Ben said dryly.

She shook her head. “No, he only knighted me because I’m strong in the Force, not because I’m a particularly good Jedi. I have to take on this mission and complete it successfully in order to prove myself.”

Ben didn’t quite understand what the logic was there, but that didn’t matter. He wasn’t changing his mind, no matter how pretty his would-be bodyguard was.

“I have an idea,” Lando said, speaking up for the first time since Rey began speaking. “One that allows Rey to complete her assigned mission while hiding her true purpose from everyone else.”

Ben sneaked a glance at Rey, who was frowning at Lando. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“You’re not going to like this, kid,” Lando said, grinning at Ben. He looked far too happy about this, which could only mean that—

Shit. Ben had a bad feeling about this.

“Pretend to be in love,” Lando said. “It’ll be the best, juiciest Jedi-politician love story since Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.”

Dead silence followed this suggestion.


	2. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _In other news, Jedi Master and Hero Luke Skywalker has decided to restart the Jedi Order right here in the Yavin system. “Some of the teachings of the former Jedi Order, such as the ban on emotional ties to families and loved ones, I am not taking with me,” he said in a press conference on Chandrila last week. “But I would be doing the galaxy a disservice if I didn’t rebuild the Order that helped keep peace in the galaxy for a thousand generations.”_ \- The Outer Rim Daily Explorer, 15/09/29 ABY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's check in with rey, shall we?

“Can you repeat that, please?” Senator Solo asked, keeping his tone light. “Because I could have sworn for a second that you said that _we should pretend to date._ ”

Rey was kicking herself for not getting more details out of Master Skywalker. Senator Organa made semi-regular visits to the temple to see her brother, but as far as Rey could remember, her son never set foot there. She hadn’t even known that Senator Organa _had_ a son until earlier this week when she caught news footage of the attempt on his life.

Lando—or was she supposed to call him Master Calrissian? She didn’t know how to address people outside of the Jedi Order—looked far too happy about the situation. “You heard me,” he said smoothly. “You two should pretend to be in love.”

“How the kriff is that going to solve this?” Senator Solo snapped. His gaze flickered towards Rey’s, gauging her reaction. He kept doing that; every time it happened, it made her want more and more to use the Force to get a better read on him. If he hadn’t been Force-sensitive, she might…

No. She wasn’t there to read the mind of her would-be charge. She was there to do a job, which, apparently, now included pretending to be in love.

For kriff’s sake. This was not why she’d worked so hard to pass her Trials at the age of nineteen.

“Simple,” Lando said. “First of all, it gives Rey a plausible reason to be spending all of her time with you.”

“What, so she’s just supposed to drop everything to follow me around everywhere?” The senator glanced at Rey again. “Going from Jedi to trophy wife isn’t exactly an upgrade.”

“Nobody said anything about marriage,” Rey snapped, unable to sit in silence any longer. It was true that Jedi were permitted to fall in love and get married, something that had been forbidden under the Old Republic, but she’d never considered that her own life might involve something like that. “And I’m not giving up being a Jedi, no matter what.”

Lando shook his head. “I don’t think you should. But it would be an awfully convenient excuse to spend all of your time together, wouldn’t it?”

He had a point, but Rey still wasn’t going for it. Neither was Senator Solo, by the look on his face. She’d seen a couple of holos of him while doing some quick research on the flight from Yavin IV earlier, but that hadn’t prepared her for how imposing he was in person. No doubt he used his height and bulk to intimidate people, but she was sure he also got by on his looks. Rey could sort of see why he’d been featured in so many _The Fifty Most Attractive Humanoid Politicians Under Fifty_ lists in the galaxy’s less well-reputed holomags.

One thing the holos hadn’t prepared her for, however, was how familiar he felt. It made sense that his Force signature would be familiar after all the time she’d spent around his uncle (and, to a lesser degree, his mother), but there was a bone-deep sense of _recognition_ she’d felt even before laying eyes on him. It was unsettling, but she couldn’t tell if he’d felt it as well, and it hadn’t felt appropriate to ask him while there were so many other people around.

When neither of them responded, Lando continued. “If you’re worried about seeming weak, Ben, then what better way to convince them that you’re harmless? If you look like you’re madly in love, they’ll assume you’re distracted enough to drop their guard and slip up.”

Rey sneaked another look at the senator. He wasn’t immediately rejecting this idea, which was...something. Whether it was a good something remained to be seen.. “What about me?” she asked.

“You?”

“What’s in it for me?”

She hadn’t thought that Lando was considering her half of the story as much as he was considering the senator’s, but he surprised her. “Ah. Same as for Benny boy here. People will assume you’re too distracted to be a danger if they think you’re so madly in love that you can’t bear to be apart from each other.”

“Gross,” the senator muttered.

Rey couldn’t disagree. She’d never been one to get carried away by thoughts of romance, nor could she even see the appeal of it. You didn’t need romance to have great sex, after all. That was why she and Jannah had gotten along so well. Until recently, that was.

Three days ago, actually.

Shit. This was going to gut Jannah, given the way they’d ended things. _I’m sorry,_ Rey had said when Jannah said she wanted an actual relationship with Rey, not just a hookup. _I don’t want anything serious right now. I need to focus on the Jedi path now that I’m a knight._

“What makes you think people will buy it?” Rey asked, turning her attention back to the present. “I’m nobody, and he’s one of the most famous politicians to ever walk the galaxy.”

“You’re not nobody,” Lando and Solo said in unison. They exchanged glances, silently working out who would continue.

Solo was the winner. “You’re a Jedi,” he said, finally meeting Rey’s gaze. “That automatically makes you somebody.” His tone was sullen, making Rey wonder not for the first time what exactly his history with the Jedi Order was. Master Skywalker had glossed over the details earlier, something she wasn’t particularly thrilled about.

There was a pause while Rey scrambled for a response. Ben’s gaze was rather intense, and it was making her nervous. “Uh, thanks,” she mumbled, looking down at the table.

To her relief, Lando swooped in and saved her from having to think of something else to say. “And _I_ was going to say that you’re not nobody. You’re Ben’s entire world now, and he’s yours.”

When he didn’t respond, she sneaked a glance back up at his expression. He still looked apprehensive about the whole thing, but...was he actually considering it?

Nah, he probably just wanted to kick them both out. Without being able to subtly read him in the Force, she was having trouble matching his expressions to his reactions.

“Come on, Ben,” Lando said. “You know I’m right.”

Rey couldn’t stop herself from cutting in. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for Senator Solo and I—”

“Ben,” the senator interrupted.

“Ben?” Rey echoed dumbly.

“Call me Ben. No more of that ‘Senator Solo’ shit. Regardless of whether or not we start this fake romance banthashit, you don’t need to be so formal.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Okay...Ben.” Using his given name felt oddly intimate, especially because she always referred to his uncle and mother by their titles. It made her realize that in another timeline, the two of them may have been classmates.

Rey was a little jealous of the version of herself living that timeline. That Rey didn’t have to listen to someone explain why it was in her best interest to pretend to be in love with a high-profile politician.

“How about this,” Lando said. “Sleep on it. Talk it over again in the morning. But I think you’ll find that I’m right about this.” He stood up. “Sweet dreams, you two.”

Rey watched Lando leave in silence as Ben stood up to pour himself another drink. “You want one?” he asked, startling her.

“Oh. No, I don’t think I should.” She wasn’t certain what she was expected to do next. Master Skywalker had been in such a rush to Hosnian Prime, and there hadn’t been much time to discuss what they were doing aside from going over what Rey’s duties as a Jedi bodyguard would be. Neither she nor Ben had heard from Master Skywalker and Senator Organa, and stars knew where they were by now. She supposed she could always go back to the ship, but she was fairly certain she wasn’t supposed to leave Ben unguarded.

_He has plenty of security cameras and droids keeping an eye on him,_ she told herself. _You’re just getting in the way._ But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Droid couldn’t catch everything, especially if the would-be assassin was Force-sensitive. No, Rey needed to stay here and do the job she’d been assigned, no matter how stupid the arrangement sounded.

Ben shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said, leaning against the counter. “So.”

“So,” Rey repeated back at him.

“Can I assume you’re still here under my uncle’s orders?” he asked.

“He told me to be your bodyguard. He never suggested you may not agree to it.”

Ben hummed noncommittally, taking another sip of his drink.

The words escaped before she could stop them. “It’s not the worst idea in the world.”

He paused, glass halfway to his mouth. “You can’t be serious.”

It was too late to back out now. Rey’s stubbornness had given some of the Jedi Masters a fair number of headaches over the years, but they’d never been able to stamp it out of her. “He made some good points.”

“No offense,” he drawled, “but I doubt that acting skills are something you’re in possession of, unless the Jedi curriculum changed after I left.”

“Hey! I am _perfectly_ capable of pretending to be in love. I’ve seen holos.” One holo. That counted, right? She could bluff her way through this argument. “Besides, if the rumors are true, you’re not exactly in a position to judge.”

“Which rumors?”

Damn. She didn’t actually know what people said about him. “You’re...not friendly.” That was something she could say based on her short acquaintance with him.

He snorted. “Anyone can tell you that. It’s not exactly a rumor.”

Well, fine then. If he was going to be like that…

Rey stood up and slowly walked over him without dropping her gaze from his, not stopping until she was only a couple of inches from him. He looked more confused than anything; the expression deepened when she reached up to place one hand on his cheek. Whether he was flushed because of the alcohol or because of her, she had no way to know.

_Stars, he’s tall,_ she thought. She’d need to place a hand on his chest for balance for this next part, something that she had no problem with, if she was being honest. She leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Believe me now?” The urge to lick it was unexpected, but she managed to fight it. The Jedi life offered plenty of ways to teach students how to resist temptation. She wrote it off as a weird nervous tick and instead focused on making this as believable as possible.

The whole thing felt excruciatingly awkward, but it was worth it for the way Ben’s Force signature radiated discomfort for a split second before he managed to regain composure enough to say, “If this is your best attempt at faking affection, we’re screwed.”

Rey jolted back, face burning no matter how much Jedi composure she called on. She managed to fight through her embarrassment enough to pick up on his words. “So you’re in?”

He knocked back the rest of his drink. “It’s a terrible idea, but the sooner we can figure out who’s behind this, the better. Letting them think I’m too... _distracted_ to pay attention is as good a plan as any.” His lip curled, revealing exactly how appealing he found this idea.

Rey couldn’t disagree.

* * *

They stayed up talking—well, arguing—about The Plan until Rey’s eyelids began to droop. It wasn’t until she caught Ben holding in a yawn that she stood up and stretched. “It’s getting late,” she said.

Ben frowned. “You’re not leaving now, are you?”

Master Skywalker hadn’t discussed the sleeping arrangements for their trip to Hosnian Prime, and Rey hadn’t thought to ask. “I guess I’ll head back to the ship,” she said. “That’s where I left my stuff. I assume that’s where Master Skywalker is.”

He shook his head. “Don’t bother,” he replied. “Just stay here.”

Rey’s immediate reaction, which she was not proud of, was to turn bright red as she thought about how much time they’d spent discussing the boundaries of their fictional relationship. He didn’t mean stay here _in his bed_ , surely?

He picked up on her train of thought a moment later, turning as red as she felt. “I mean—I have a guest room. And a bed. For you. To sleep in. Alone.”

“Th-thanks,” she stammered. “Um. I guess this would make our story more convincing.”

“Right.”

Why did this feel so intimate? Rey was used to sharing living space at the Jedi Temple. She’d shared a dorm as a youngling and then as a padawan, and even though she had her own living quarters as full-fledged Jedi knight, she still lived on the temple grounds with the other Jedi.

She shook herself. She was just tired. That was all it was.

Ben led her down the hall to a door at the end that opened into a small room that only contained a bed, a mirror, and a small dresser. “I don’t have a lot of guests,” he said gruffly. “Fresher’s in the room to the left, and my bedroom is the one to the right.”

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad do you think this conversation is going to go tomorrow?” she couldn’t help herself from asking.

“Oh, it’s going to be painful,” he grumbled. “I’m sure everyone will be back bright and early tomorrow morning, so I suggest you get some sleep while you can.”

“Good night.” The words were practically squeaked out, making Rey’s face heat up.

To her relief, Ben seemed too distracted to care. “Talk to you in the morning,” he said before closing the door behind himself.

* * *

Rey awakened next morning to the sound of her commlink buzzing. “Hello?”

Master Skywalker sounded even more grumpy than he had last night. Was this what happened when families gathered together? Everyone became grumpy? Rey had stopped asking herself questions like that years ago, but apparently being subjected to a Skywalker-Solo-Organa family reunion drudged them back up. “Where are you? I thought you came back to the ship last night, but I haven’t seen you all morning.”

She glanced at a chrono. “I’m still at Sen—at Ben’s flat.”

Rey swore she could feel him hone in on the implication across the commlink. “Are you.”

“Mhm.” Stars, this was so much more awkward than she’d anticipated. “I—we’ll fill you in once you get here.”

There was a pause, during which a thousand awkward things Master Skywalker could say flew into Rey’s mind. Fortunately, he simply chose to say, “I’ll see you soon. Han and Leia will be joining us as well.” The line went dead, leaving Rey in silence as she started to have second thoughts about The Plan.

She shook her head. Neither she nor Ben had come up with a better idea last night. The fact that she was still wearing yesterday’s clothing could only help fuel the fire for their fake love story, surely? Her face burned at the thought of doing a walk of shame where Master Skywalker could see her, but there was nothing to be done about it now. She pulled her tunic and boots on, then made her way out of Ben's guest bedroom and into the kitchen.

He was leaning against the countertop, a mug of something that smelled like caf in his hands. "Morning," Rey said by way of greeting.

He looked so lost in thought that she was surprised he didn't jump up in surprise. But then again, it was difficult to sneak up on a Jedi. She supposed that extended to half-trained Jedi as well. "Morning," he mumbled. "Caf?"

"Thanks." Compared to their increasingly animated discussions last night, this felt excruciatingly awkward. "Master Skywalker commed me. Said he's on his way here, and your parents are with him."

Ben sighed, then slung back the last of his caf. "Of course they are."

Rey made it a point to focus on the cup she was pouring when she added, "He seemed surprised to learn that I was still here." Without looking up at him, she had no way to gauge his expression. If it was anything like hers, he'd turned bright red. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

He snorted. "It's a little late if you've told Luke that you spent the night here, isn't it?"

They'd agreed on a cover story that more or less amounted to "it was love at first sight, and we were originally fighting against the idea because we didn't want to withstand the struggle of unrequited love." Neither of them had much experience with relationships, so they didn't have a lot of prior knowledge to draw on. Which was for the best, given that it would have been difficult to pretend like this was a thought-out thing that had been ongoing for a while.

They’d also given their fake relationship a deadline. If nothing happened within a month, they were going to have a very public break-up and then go back to their separate lives, pretending none of this had ever happened. They’d both been adamant about that.

Rey wasn't sure when Lando or Korr would be back, but it didn't take long for the rest of Ben’s family to show up at his apartment. Rey could feel the familiar sensation of her master's Force signature approaching and the less familiar but not weaker sensation of Senator Organa's. Judging by his stormy expression, Ben could feel it, too.

_What is it like to be able to sense your family on that level?_ Rey banished the thought as soon as it occurred to her. It wasn't going to do anyone any good to go down that path. Not when there was work to be done, anyway. She'd need her full focus for this.

Master Skywalker barely waited for greetings to be exchanged before honing in on them. "I take it you two have something to tell us?" he asked, giving Rey a pointed look.

She and Ben had discussed this, but there was still a fleeting sense of panic as she realized what they were actually doing. "We've changed our mind," Ben said, taking Rey's hand in his. His grip was warm and strong and the way his thumb brushed her knuckles lightly made a shiver race down her spine. "We got to talking last night, and one thing led to another, and..." He trailed off, looking vaguely nauseated by the thought of continuing that sentence.

The challenge of trying to pull something like this off with a bunch of people who were all extremely powerful in the Force was that it wasn’t enough to say they were in love, they had to actually _show_ it in their Force signatures. Rey and Ben had discussed this particular challenge; her solution was to think about something or someone they both felt strong affection for. As a rule, Master Skywalker didn’t poke around in the heads of his students, but if she and Ben were going to sell this, they had to act like they were so in love that they couldn’t hide it from anyone.

Rey poured every ounce of love and affection she felt for her friends back at the temple into the way she looked at Ben. She sure as hell didn’t feel anything like that for him ( _yet_ , an unwelcome part of her mind pointed out), but with any luck no one would want to question her too closely.

She met Ben’s gaze and gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. There was another key part of this—attraction—which wasn’t any easier to fake than affection. Sure, he was easy on the eyes, but she didn’t feel any particular desire to have sex with him.

She reached out in the Force, trying to sense Ben. With less training, she had worried that he wouldn’t be able to control his Force signature as well as she could, but it turned out that she didn’t need to worry. She couldn’t feel affection in the same amounts that she was putting off, which made her curious about his personal life, but at least it gave the effect of making him seem shy.

The sound of a throat clearing interrupted the spell, causing her to drop her gaze from Ben’s. Senator Organa looked absolutely thrilled; Master Skywalker less so. Ben’s father simply looked amused, although maybe that was because he couldn’t sense what Rey and Ben were attempting to give off in the Force.

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I brought you here on this assignment,” Master Skywalker said dryly.

Senator Organa swatted him on the arm. “What my brother means is, we’re happy for you two.”

Captain Solo—or was he still a general? Rey couldn’t keep her galactic history straight—snorted, but he didn’t give any commentary. It seemed rude to try to guess his reaction using the Force; she’d have to ask Ben later if his father was happy about their relationship or not.

“Rey,” Master Skywalker said, bringing her focus back to the present. “Can I still trust you to do the job that has been assigned to you?”

The formal manner in which he asked the question was so at odds with the situation that it took Rey a moment to parse it. “Of course you can, Master,” she replied, dropping Ben’s hand and stepping away from him. “I won’t get distracted from my duties.”

Master Skywalker gave her a long look. She didn’t sense him trying to read her mind, but the level of scrutiny in his gaze was strong enough that Rey had a moment of panic where he was going to call her and Ben on their banthashit. Had they been laying it on too thick?

Eventually he sighed. “Well, alright, then,” he said. “Just remember to check in weekly. And keep your head out of the clouds.”

And that was it.

* * *

They were going all-in on the plan, to the point where Rey found herself carrying her bag of belongings into Ben’s flat as Master Skywalker left Hosnian Prime. She would’ve had to follow him around as his bodyguard anyway, but it was still awkward to unpack the few things she owned in his guest bedroom.

Her lightsaber, of course; she always carried it with her. Two sets of spare robes. A set of clothes for sleeping in. Toiletries. She had a set of civilian clothes as well, but she rarely had a case to wear them.

A knock sounded on the bedroom door as she was hanging up the second set of robes in the room’s small wardrobe. "Rey?"

She shook herself. It was a strange situation, but she could handle it. She knew how to do her job. She wouldn't fail her first assignment as a Jedi Knight. "Yes?" she called back through the door.

"I have to go to the office."

It took Rey a minute to realize why he was telling her this. "Oh," she said. "Now?"

"I have a meeting in twenty minutes."

They were keeping the true nature of their working relationship a secret from everyone except for Lando, and that was only because they couldn’t exactly brush off his suggestion one night and claim they’d fallen in love the next morning. Rey's colleagues in the Jedi Order may have been able to put the pieces together, but they knew better than to get involved. Ben had left Master Skywalker’s academy before she arrived, but she'd heard bits and pieces of stories about the mysterious Jedi Order dropout over the years as she grew up.

Of course, no one had bothered to tell her they were about Master Skywalker’s nephew...and they generally weren't flattering anecdotes. She was trying not to think about it.

"So..." he said. "Are you tagging along to do your Jedi duty or what?"

Rey glared at the door. Just because he had no love for the Jedi Order didn't mean he had to make fun of her. "I'm coming with," she said, double-checking that her lightsaber was clipped to her belt.

Ben looked distinctly unimpressed by Rey's Jedi robes. "You're wearing that?"

She looked down at herself. "What's wrong with my uniform?" she asked.

"You look like a Jedi."

"Yes. And?"

"And, if we're going to pull this off, you need to keep the Jedi stuff on the down low."

"So? Everyone knows that Master Skywalker doesn't follow the 'no relationships' part of the old Jedi Code." It had been a big deal when he'd announced that he was restarting the Jedi Order with some rule changes, according to the older Jedi she knew. Rey may not have been much of a romantic, but she’d never understood why the pre-Imperial Jedi Order had been so set against allowing Jedi to form romantic connections.

"Yeah, but nobody's going to believe that you're hanging around as my—" He grimaced, spitting the word out as if it tasted bitter "— _girlfriend_ if you're dressed like you're about to pop off to a meditation session."

Rey scowled at him. "For your information, I happen to like my Jedi robes. And I don't own much civilian clothing. So my options are rather limited."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Fine. You're going shopping later. You look too uptight in those robes."

She opened her mouth to argue, then clamped it shut. They didn't have time for this. "Fine," she said, shutting the door in his face.

"Hey!" he squawked.

"I'm changing, as per your request," she snapped. She raced into her less “showy” clothing, then opened the door to find Ben glaring at her. "Better?"

It was just a simple tunic, leggings, boots, and vest in neutral tones, but the way he looked her up and down before nodding made her cheeks heat up. He was judging her, but his expression said nothing about what the final verdict was. "Let's go. There's a speeder waiting."

Rey followed him, drawing on her Jedi training to smooth her scowl as they exited the apartment. If they were going to pull this off, she couldn’t spend their first public appearance scowling at him. “What am I supposed to do while you’re working?” she asked as the speeder flew to the Senate Complex, where Ben’s office was located.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “What do you normally do when bodyguarding? Didn’t Luke give you any instructions?”

She felt her cheeks heat up. “As I said last night, this is my first solo assignment as a full Jedi Knight. No pun intended.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that one a thousand times. This is what happens when Han is asked to name something.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Han—my father—started calling himself ‘Solo’ because he had no other family,” he explained. “Unfortunately for me, it stuck.”

“Huh.” It was strange to think about someone deciding to give themself a last name like that. Rey had not been required to give a family name when she’d been taken in by the Jedi Order. ‘Solo’ was a good last name to take in the absence of a given family name, but...well, obviously she couldn’t claim that one now.

Pity.

Ben cleared his throat. “In any case, I can’t have you hanging around while we’re discussing confidential information.”

“How often will that happen?” she asked, already coming up with ideas for how to handle that.

“Most of what I do is considered confidential.”

Well, that wasn’t going to work. “So, what, I’m just supposed to spend the day hanging out in the hallway?”

He scowled, which was quickly becoming his default expression for her. “Can’t you use the Force for that?”

She could, but now that his temper was flaring, hers was as well. “What’s the point of having me around to guard you if we’re not going to physically be in the same space?” she snapped. “Being able to use the Force doesn’t mean I can stop an assassination attempt from three floors away. You should know that.”

“Well, I didn’t want you around in the first place, so you’re just going to have to suck it up!”

They still hadn’t resolved the argument by the time the speeder was pulling up to the Senate Complex. Rey and Ben exchanged once last glare before putting on their best PR faces to show how happy they were together. _If only,_ Rey thought glumly as she followed Ben to his office.

Korr Sella, the senatorial aide from last night, was sitting at the desk in the waiting room when Ben and Rey arrived. “Good afternoon, Ben,” she greeted. “And Rey.”

Rey wasn’t sure what the correct protocol was here, so she gave Korr a shallow bow instead. “Good afternoon, Ms Sella.”

Korr waved a hand in the air as if dispelling something. “Please, I think we’re beyond that, _Master_ Rey.” She grinned as she watched Rey react to how uncomfortably formal the address was.

“Are we done here?” Ben snapped. Rey watched Korr to try to figure out if this was unusual behavior or not, but the aide’s expression didn’t give off any indication either way.

“I had some messages sent to your datapad,” Korr explained, “and you have a meeting with Thadlé Berenko and Brasmon Kee in twenty minutes to discuss GS-1532b.”

“Great,” Ben said, heading into his office. Rey wanted to follow him—she’d need to scope out the setting for security purposes, of course—but she hesitated, thinking about how much they’d already argued about this. Korr may have been in on the secret, but there was no telling how thin the walls around here were or who was listening.

To Rey’s surprise, Ben turned back to look at her as he stepped through the door to his office. “Well?” he snapped. “You said you wanted to check out the office. Are you coming in or what?”

“Right,” Rey said, throwing one last look at Korr before stepping into the senator’s office.

She wasn’t entirely certain what she’d been expecting, but she was still thrown by how bare the room seemed. There was a holoscreen on one wall, a large desk with chairs on either side of it, and a small table tucked into the corner. As in his apartment, there were no holos, decorations, or any personal touches to indicate that the office belonged to anyone at all. She’d known that he didn’t have the best relationship with his family, but she was still surprised to see how little he seemed to think about them.

“Well?” Ben asked as Rey examined the room. “Does it fit your security standards, your knightliness?”

Rey bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from snapping at him. “Are all Senate offices like this?” she asked.

“I assume so, although there may be special accommodations for non-humanoid races that I’m not aware of.” Hm. That was something she’d have to look into. Maybe Korr would know. “Are you happy now?”

Rey whirled around to face him. “Happy?”

With barely-concealed impatience, he said, “Yes. You’ve seen my office. You’ve heard my itinerary for the day. Now will you leave me alone to do my job in peace?”

She hesitated. He obviously wanted some space, and she couldn’t deny that she wanted the same. There was something telling her that she needed to keep her guard up, and she was afraid to ignore it. What would Master Skywalker or Senator Organa think if she messed up and Ben got hurt on her watch?

Seeing her hesitation, he sighed. “How about this. You can hang out here when it’s just us and Korr. I’ll ask for all of my meetings to be in my office today so that you’ll be right outside in case anything goes wrong.”

Rey didn’t know the details of government meetings and Senate things, but she could tell a concession when she saw one. “That sounds like a good idea,” she said. “I’ll let you prepare for your meeting while I go over some things with Korr.”

It was hardly even a compromise, but Rey knew she’d win in the end. Maybe Ben was used to getting his way because of who his family was, but she had something on her side that he didn’t:

The need to prove her worth as a Jedi Knight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Thadlé Berenko](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Thadl%C3%A9_Berenko) and [Brasmon Kee](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Brasmon_Kee) are canon, but any political bills, meetings, committees, etc are all made-up.
> 
> see y'all in two weeks with chapter 3, "And So the Gossip Begins"!


	3. And So the Gossip Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Hey there, Core Worlders. Chatter Coruscanti here and I’ve got my eye and ears on what’s happening in the Core[...]The galaxy’s favorite eligible Chandrilan senator is no longer eligible, it seems - Senator Ben Solo has been spotted with a young woman whose identity is still a mystery. The couple was seen holding hands and laughing together over a romantic dinner at The Streetwise Blossom. Who is this woman who has managed to capture the heart of the famously private Senator Solo?_ — Chatter Coruscanti Central, 34/03/26 ABY

Three days into Ben and Rey’s fake relationship had Ben wishing Luke had brought Tai instead. It would have been infinitely less tense than living with a barely-knighted Jedi who was constantly getting underfoot in the name of “security.”

The first day at work had been mostly fine. Rey had kept herself busy going over the specs of his office, blueprints of the entire Senate Complex, and schedules of all upcoming senatorial events. Ben had been happy enough to leave her to it, as he had plenty of his own work to do and he didn’t need the distraction of having a Jedi whom he was pretending to be in love with hanging around.

Normally, Ben enjoyed his solitude, and he wasn’t used to having another person in his space after a long day. Seeing as Rey had spent most of her life among the Jedi, she didn’t have the same concerns about sharing living space, something that had been made abundantly clear on Day Two when she’d walked into the kitchen clad only in a thin sleeveless tunic and loose shorts still wrinkled from sleep. Ben, deep in thought about the upcoming bill proposal he was sponsoring, had somehow managed to completely forget she was there. He full-on _jumped_ , dropping his cup on the floor when he saw her.

“Sorry!” To give her credit, she did seem apologetic. With a wave of her hand, the pieces of broken porcelain were up in the air and floating into the garbage bin.

Ben scowled. “I could have done that myself,” he grumbled.

Rey shrugged. “It’s my fault,” she told him. “I surprised you. I’m used to shielding myself. You know, in the Force.”

Ah, that was another thing that was bothersome about this. “I don’t use the Force if I can help it,” he admitted, turning away from her to brew another pot of caf. “It’s not my thing.”

“It’s ‘not your thing’?” she scoffed.

“Nope. And I don’t want to talk about it. Can I just drink my caf in peace?” he snapped.

He was certain she was rolling her eyes at him, but she dropped the subject. “Do you normally get up this early?”

“I generally work out before my first meeting of the day at 0900.”

“In that case, I’m extra sorry to have interrupted your morning ritual.” He was mollified until she added, “What do you normally do to work out? Can I join you?”

“It’s not lightsaber practice, that’s for damn sure.” Exercise was one of the things that he’d actually enjoyed when he was a student at Luke’s temple. He couldn’t help growing up to be as big as he was, but his classmates had been a little less shitty about that than they had been about his strength in the Force.

“That’s not the only thing we do,” she huffed. “You should know that, even if you never completed your training.”

Ben wasn’t in the mood to argue over his difficult past with Luke and his new Jedi Order. “If you want to join me, I’m leaving in fifteen minutes. I go straight to work from the gym.” She must have taken that as her cue to grab her stuff, because when Ben turned around again, she was gone. If he hadn’t been able to feel her in the Force—because yes, she was there, clear as a star, now that he was looking—he would have assumed he’d dreamt the whole thing up.

Surprisingly, Rey seemed happy to follow his lead without offering commentary about life as a Jedi as he ran through his usual training circuit—laps, weights, more laps, more weights—and she kept up the entire time, which wasn’t completely surprising, considering what she probably did as a Jedi Knight. But for some reason, the fact that she was capable of running through his usual workout routine with him without complaint was annoying.

He’d hoped that she would want to take the time to grab a big, healthy breakfast from the cafeteria in the Senate Complex, but instead she followed him straight from the gym to his office, her hair done back in the three-bun look she favored. “Does this civilian clothing meet your expectations?” she’d asked upon meeting him in front of the gym after a post-workout shower. He got a whiff of some sort of floral scent, making him wonder if all the Jedi were using such fragrant shampoo now. That certainly wouldn’t have been Luke’s idea, nor any of the other padawans Ben had trained with.

The “civilian clothing,” as she called it, was simple—leggings, boots, a sleeveless shirt, and a vest. He’d asked for her measurements to send off to a tailor to get her a less Jedi-oriented wardrobe, and she still wore it like it was a starsdamned Jedi uniform. It bothered him more than he wanted to let on; who knew how pleased she’d be if he told her she still radiated Jedi banthashit? “It’s fine,” he muttered. “Are you sure you don’t want to grab breakfast?”

“Do you?”

He shook his head, his mind already buzzing with everything he needed to get done today. “I have a meeting I have to prepare for, but feel free to get something to eat. Tell the cafeteria droids to bill it to me.”

Apparently, she wasn’t taking the out. “I’m your—” She looked around before hissing, “—bodyguard. I can’t very well do my job if I’m nowhere near you. What if the assassins come back and I’m halfway across the Senate Complex eating a bowl of oatmeal?”

“I _am_ capable of taking care of myself, as I have reminded you, my uncle, and my mother multiple times,” he snapped. “Not to mention how tight security is here. I’m perfectly safe.”

“Will you just shut up and let me do my job?” she retorted. “I can’t afford to mess this up, nor do I want you to die.”

_Well obviously_ , he thought, _your boss wouldn’t like it very much if you let his nephew die on your watch, would he?_ Out loud, he simply said, “Fine.”

“Rey,” Korr said, smiling warmly at her as they arrived at Ben’s office suite. “Welcome back.” She gave him a pointed look, and he held back a sigh. He and Rey had agreed that the fewer people who knew about this, the better, but he wasn’t sure they’d be able to keep it from Korr, who was the closest thing he had to a friend these days.

They hadn’t let Korr in on the secret—Lando, Ben, and Rey were the only people who knew about it—but she’d known Ben for long enough that she could sense that there was more to Ben and Rey’s relationship than met the eye. He grew more certain each day that she was secretly laughing at them, but Rey hadn’t left him alone long enough for him to ask Korr if she’d figured out the truth about their relationship.

“Good morning,” Rey replied, sounding far more chipper than her Force signature indicated. “How could I stay away from such a handsome face?” she added, smirking at Ben.

Embarrassingly, he felt his cheeks and ears heat up. He knew it was all fake, but she was enjoying the opportunity to put him on the spot. Well, two could play at that game. “Don’t lie, sweetheart,” he said, the endearment he’d heard growing up slipping out. “We both know what you really think of me.”

“Oh?” she said, one eyebrow raised in a perfect expression of skepticism. “That you’re handsome? That you’re charming? That you’re adorable? I can keep going, if you’d like.” He was alarmed to realize she’d stepped closer to him, and even more alarmed that she had decided to lift an arm up to cup his cheek. “I’ve got plenty of words for you.” The look in her eyes gave him an idea of what those words would be, and they weren’t flattering.

To Ben’s eternal relief and gratitude, Korr decided to break up whatever was happening. “Senator,” she said, emphasizing that this was _a place of work, Ben, what are you doing?_ “You have a meeting with the Agricultural Subsidy Planning Committee in fifteen minutes.”

He took the hand that was resting on his cheek. What he _meant_ to do was put it down and bid farewell for Rey in hopes that she’d fuck off for a little while and let him work in peace. What he _actually_ did was press a quick kiss to the back of it before letting go.

Rey blinked, surprise evident in the Force for a split second before she regained her composure, leaving Ben annoyed that he couldn’t rattle her more than that. “Feel free to go for a walk while I’m in this meeting,” he told her.

She smiled sweetly at him. “Oh, I couldn’t bear to be apart from you for that long.”

He sighed. It was going to be a long month.

* * *

It took shockingly little time for rumors of Ben’s new “friend” to spread around the Senate Complex. Korr, he was unsurprised to learn, found the whole thing hilarious and did nothing to stop people from gawking at Rey as she trailed after him through the day.

Stars, he really needed to find a minute to pull her aside and ask her to stop acting like this was a big joke. Sure, the whole point of this was to stir up rumors to distract everyone from Rey’s true reason for being by his side all the time, but he didn’t need people _laughing_ at them.

It was hard to tell if Rey found it amusing or not. The only thing she made clear was her annoyance that Ben insisted he didn’t need a bodyguard. “If we’re going to pull this off,” she reminded him a few days into their agreement, “we need people to actually think we’re so besotted that we’re losing our minds.”

She was right, but that didn’t make this any easier. He was already having reservations about this whole thing. How were he and Rey supposed to act like they were in love? They were both the worst possible choices for a plan like this. Lando had to be loving it, which made Ben a little afraid of what he was going to say next time they saw each other.

“Korr told me there’s a nice restaurant near the Senate Complex that’s really popular with the media,” Rey said as he was getting ready to leave for the day.

“And?” he asked, not liking where this was going.

“We should get dinner there. We need people to think this is real, right? What better way to do it than have a very public, very romantic dinner someplace where your colleagues and the press are all likely to see us?”

Ben scowled down at his datapad. “You know I’m right,” Rey added.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Wow, so romantic,” she deadpanned. “Who wouldn’t be in love with such a poet?”

“Kriff off.” He didn’t actually hate the thought of taking Rey out to dinner. He’d learned that she’d spent the first six years of her life on Jakku, and she’d been living at the Jedi Temple on Yavin IV since then. She hadn’t had much in the way of novelty as far as food went; it was all ration packs on Jakku, and Luke and his ilk weren’t inclined towards anything more than the basic things needed for nutrition. “Sweetheart, would you care to join me for dinner?” he said, attempting to sound completely besotted.

When he looked up at Rey, she was wrinkling her nose at him. It was...really cute, actually. Huh. “That’s more like it,” she said, holding out a hand. “Come on, I see a lot of couples walking hand-in-hand like this.”

They hadn’t touched much, which was always to Ben’s relief. He was big on having a personal space bubble. But as he took Rey’s hand in his, he was surprised to find how right it felt, like they fit together somehow.

He shook himself, throwing up his mental shields in case she attempted to spy on him with the Force. He was reading too much into this. There was nothing particularly special about holding Rey’s hand aside from the fact that he never held hands with anyone. That was all.

“Do you ever go out with your colleagues?” she asked as they waited for a speeder to take them to the restaurant. “I heard some people talking about it yesterday while you were in a meeting.”

“Occasionally, if the situation calls for it. I’ve never been particularly inclined towards social gatherings, but sometimes it’s necessary in order to get things done. Talk to the right people. You know.”

“I don’t, actually,” she said. “You either keep forgetting that I’ve lived at the Jedi Temple for the majority of my life, or you’ve blocked out all your memories of your time there.”

It was closer to the truth than he would have liked to admit. “I’m not used to being around Jedi anymore,” he admitted. “The day we met is the first time I’ve seen or spoken to Luke since I left the temple, which was before you arrived.”

“You mean, you spent all that time and you never tried to speak to him?” She seemed baffled at the concept of avoiding someone. “I don’t know who my family are, but if I knew any of them, I would never walk away from the opportunity to spend time with them.”

“Yeah, well, you aren’t related to Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, or Han Solo,” Ben said bitterly as the speeder arrived.

They sat in awkward silence on the short ride to the restaurant. Rey had dropped his hand as soon as they’d gotten into the speeder, and she didn’t seem to be in any particular rush to pick it up again. The fact that he’d noticed was upsetting, and the fact that he was upset about it was even more upsetting. All in all, Ben had worked himself into a mood by the time the speeder pulled up in front of the restaurant, and he found himself wondering once again what the hell he and Rey were doing.

It wasn’t the fanciest restaurant Ben had ever been to—not by far—but he could feel Rey’s anxiety spike in the Force as soon as they entered. “It’s okay,” he murmured, touching her elbow, instinctively knowing he needed to calm her somehow. “Relax.”

“It’s so fancy,” she hissed. “I don’t think I’m allowed to be here.”

“Of course you are,” he said. “You’re my date. My _girlfriend._ ” Amazingly, he barely even hesitated to say the word this time. “You look lovely, if that’s your concern.”

He hadn’t expected the compliment to mean much to her, but she relaxed visibly. “Thank you,” she said quietly as a serving droid led them to a table in the middle of the room. “Even though I know you’re just playing the role of a dutiful boyfriend.”

It was a strange word to have applied to him. Ben had never been particularly interested in sex or dating. Tai was the only person he’d felt any sort of attraction to, and Ben’s feelings for him had long ago faded. He’d tried dating a couple of times—first at Lando’s suggestion when he first left the Temple, and then again a couple of years later when he’d settled on Hosnian Prime—but he’d just never felt that spark of attraction, and for the most part he’d felt like he wasn’t missing out on much. Realizing he was demisexual when he was 23 had been a relief, and he’d always used work as an excuse to avoid discussing it.

In retrospect, it was a good thing he’d never cared enough to tell anyone; his and Rey’s romance was barely believable as it was.

“I mean it,” he said as they sat down. “You do look lovely, ‘civilian clothing’ and all.” It felt like a small victory to see Rey rattled momentarily before her Jedi programming took over, leaving Ben annoyed all over again.

“It’s good that we’re sitting in the middle of the room, isn’t it?” she whispered. “I mean, for visibility reasons.”

Ben nodded. “Normally I make it a point to ask to be seated out-of-the-way so as to avoid having attention on me, but you’re right, people are more likely to see us together like this.”

“Good, good,” she said absently, looking at the menu.

Ben did the same, but he looked up again when he noticed distress coming off her in waves in the Force. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t know what any of this means,” she whispered. “It’s like reading another language.”

He felt guilty suddenly, like he’d misstepped in bringing her here. “What kind of food do you usually like?” he said gently. “I’ll order for us.”

“I like whatever provides nutritional value.”

_Of course she does,_ he thought as he scanned the menu. When the waitstaff came around again, he put in an order for roast Elbina pepper stew, Lemus corn salad, and nerf tenderloin.

And then conversation was...stilted. “Do you like Hosnian Prime so far?” he asked tentatively.

Rey shrugged. “It’s nice, although we haven’t explored much of it. You work too much.” There it was, the way her nose wrinkled at him again. Why did he find that so cute?

“Political work is no joke,” he explained. “I want to do everything in my power to make the galaxy a better place. I have to keep my promise to the people of Chandrila that I’ll do my part to bring their concerns in front of the Senate and push for change. Even though the war against the Empire ended thirty years ago, some species have long memories. In some ways, we’re still rebuilding the system.”

She seemed to take this in, pausing before she answered. “And you don’t...regret taking this path?”

Ben scowled. “If you’re trying to ask me about my time at the Jedi Temple—”

She shook her head. “No, it isn’t that. Well, not completely. I don’t know the full story—Master Skywalker only said that you left before your training was complete, but he didn’t tell me anything else. But there were a number of other paths you could have taken, presumably.”

“There were,” he conceded. There had been a time in which he’d thought he’d follow in his father’s footsteps and become a smuggler, but after learning what Anakin had done when he’d become Darth Vader, he felt that he needed to make up for it. Intergenerational guilt was a thing, apparently. “I don't regret the choices I’ve made that have brought me here.”

One edge of her mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “You mean, faking a relationship with a fresh Jedi knight graduate because someone is trying to kill you?”

He snorted. “This was a surprise, I’ll give you that.”

Conversation flowed a little more easily after that, and when the food arrived, they busied themselves tasting the different things Ben had ordered. Rey hadn’t liked all of it, but he was utterly charmed by the expressions she made as she sampled the different foods. He’d gotten so distracted by it that he forgot the whole reason they were at the restaurant in the first place until he caught sight of a camera flashing in their direction.

“Don’t look now,” he whispered, “but we’ve got eyes on us.”

Rey had started to relax during the meal, but he felt her attention shift as she started scanning the area. “I don’t sense any malice,” she said.

“Nor do I.” Not that he’d been trying to reach out in the Force; it had just happened naturally alongside Rey. Was that a normal way to behave when with another Force-sensitive? The only one he spent time with on a semi-regular basis was his mother and she, like Ben, had made the choice to go into politics rather than train as a Jedi. “I think it’s just the press.”

“Oh?” There was a mischievous glint in her eye now. “Do you want to put on a show?”

“What did you have in mind?”

She faltered. “I was hoping you had some ideas.”

Ben was once again reminded of how poorly equipped the two of them were for this situation. “We could hold hands?” he suggested.

“And stare longingly into each other's eyes?” she quipped.

He didn’t hide his amusement at the idea. “And stare longingly into each other's eyes.”

“Okay.” She laid her hand on the tale, palm up. Ben barely hesitated to take it, twining their fingers together and leaning in. Was it his imagination, or did a faint blush arise on her cheeks? “Like this?” she whispered, staring back at him.

This was...weirdly intense. There was something familiar in Rey’s gaze, making him think of how he’d almost felt like he recognized her Force signature before meeting her the night she and Luke had arrived. Maybe it was the recognition of one Force-sensitive to another, but something told Ben it was more than that. Whatever it was, it frightened him a little bit, and he was the first one to break the stare. Rey’s hand squeezed his briefly—whether in warning or in recognition of how weird it was to stare into each others’ eyes so intensely, he had no idea.

“Is it working?” she whispered. “Are they still taking our photo?”

“I have no idea.” He hated what he was about to ask, but… “Is that something you can sense with the Force, my dear bodyguard?”

She looked like she was fighting back a smile, but she closed her eyes, almost making a show of her Force prowess. Ben was impressed, despite his general disdain for all things Jedi. Over the last few days, he’d realized just how powerful she was. She probably rivaled one of his relatives, but he refused to think of her in the same category as his mother and uncle. Something about that didn’t sit right with him.

When she opened her eyes again, she shook her head slightly. “I sense curiosity coming from a few directions, but I’m not sure how much of it is focused in our direction. We could, however, eavesdrop if you really wanted to know.”

That was a skill he actively tried to avoid using. It would have been useful in his work, knowing how to listen and pick up on bits of information that he could use when persuading various politicians to support one of his initiatives, but it had always felt like cheating. “You’re on. First one to find the answer gets to choose where we eat breakfast tomorrow.” The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them, shocking him with how eager he was to turn this into a competition.

Rey seemed surprised, but she didn’t hold back her delight. “You’re on.” A moment later, he could sense her putting her focus away from him and into the room around them. He did the same, trying to filter out the irrelevant conversations as quickly as possible.

“And I said to her, ‘If you don’t ask Hiram out, I will…”

_“Kavaa kyotopa bu whirlee backa?_ ”

“I can’t believe you’re dating your husband’s best friend behind his back! The balls on you, Darap.”

“Is that Senator Ben Solo and a _date_?”

_Bingo._

He honed in on that conversation, barely aware of Rey’s hand in his anymore. “He keeps his personal life out of the public eye, so what is he doing here, of all places?” the first speaker said.

“Who is she?” the second speaker asked. “I don’t recognize her as anyone in the Galactic Senate. Do you think she’s from Chandrila, too?”

“No, she doesn’t strike me as a politician. She’s kinda cute, I guess.” A tendril of indignation on Rey’s behalf curled in his stomach at the unimpressed tone in the speaker’s voice. “Who do you think will pay more for this story, Coruscant Daily Tribune or Core Aurora Chronicle?”

“Let’s take it to both and see who will give us more money for it,” the second speaker said. “I don’t care much about him or his date, but gossip rags pay well for this sort of thing.”

The conversation shifted into a debate about what was “real news” these days, signaling that there was nothing else of relevance to be gleaned. When Ben cued back into Rey, she was looking at him expectantly. “Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

The idea that he may have actually beaten her at this game made him giddy. “Did you?”

“I can’t believe how much some people care about the love lives of their politicians. Shouldn’t they be focused on, I don’t know, the policies you’re enacting?”

Oh. So she’d found the same conversation he had. “I stopped wondering why some people care about that a while ago,” he said. “I make it clear whenever I do obligatory press conferences that I don’t want to gossip about my personal life. I was elected senator for a reason, and I’d like to think that my looks or family has nothing to do with it.”

“Huh.” She loosened her grip on his hand, pulling hers back so that she could pick up her utensil and dig into the food left on her plate. “Well, that’s mission accomplished, isn’t it? We should check the HoloNet for news later on.”

“Good idea,” he said, slowly pulling his hand away. It had been...well, almost fun. He didn’t remember the last time that using the Force had been entertaining.

* * *

As predicted, when they checked the Holonet together the next morning, there were no less than seven articles speculating the identity of Senator Ben Solo of Chandrila’s new beau and four more editorials blatantly thirsting over the new couple.

And yes, they actually used the word _beau_.

* * *

“I think last night was a success,” Rey said as they ran laps around the gym the next morning. She insisted that she needed to stay in shape, although Ben wasn’t particularly inclined to join her in any meditation training. Still, he couldn't deny how much he liked having someone to work out with. Maybe he’d take up sparring again, just to see what Rey was like as a sparring partner. Something told him that it would be fun to discover. “They’re talking about us, aren’t they?”

“And glossing over the recent attempts on my life, too.” There had been mentions of those, of course, but the main focus was on the identity of the mystery woman he was with. He wanted to keep Rey’s full story out of the press, if possible, but they needed everyone to think they were too besotted to focus on anything else if they wanted this plan to work.

“If we’re lucky, whoever’s trying to kill you gave up after the second attempt,” she pointed out.

She was aiming too low. “If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to figure out the identity of the attacker _and_ bring them to justice within the next month.”

“What does justice look like for you, anyway?” she asked. “For the Jedi, we’d re-educate them and try to get them to see the error of their ways.”

“It depends on the homeworld of the criminals in question,” he said. “And it would depend on who got jurisdiction. If anything were to happen on Chandrila, we’d be completely within our rights to try the assailant in our justice system. Here on Hosnian Prime, we’d most likely have to follow their laws, which are similar to Chandrila’s. But if something were to happen in another system, or if another system fought for the right to mete out justice their own way, it would be more difficult.”

Rey slowed to a stop, causing Ben to do the same. She couldn’t be tired already. Her endurance was as good as his, and he’d barely broken a sweat so far. “What is it?” he asked.

“We should train together.”

“We _are_ training together.”

She shook her head. “No, I mean, we should spar. It would help you defend yourself better. I can’t imagine you have too many people lining up these days to fight with you. Not the way I can.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Using the Force, nerfherder,” she whispered, elbowing him. “I know you hate it, but you have to admit, it would be good for you to learn. Or re-learn, I suppose.”

“Actually,” he admitted, “I was thinking the same thing. It’s been far too long since I sparred.”

The way her face lit up made his heart beat faster. “Well, what are we waiting for? There’s a sparring gym in here, isn’t there?”

He smirked. “Follow me. And don’t think you can go easy on me simply because I’m a Jedi school drop-out. I bet I can still kick your ass any day of the week.”

“People love to underestimate me,” she warned him. “Don’t make the same mistake.”

Half an hour later, Ben was beginning to realize that he hadn’t underestimated Rey’s abilities at all; he had overestimated his own. He was in shape, all right, but he was slow to fight, not having the muscle memory for it anymore. He came to this conclusion as Rey had him flipped over on his back for the third time in ten minutes, kneeling over him. “Had enough yet?” she asked.

It was gratifying to see the way she was panting just as hard as Ben was, sweat dripping down beneath the collar of her sleeveless shirt. Even though she’d knocked him on his ass multiple times now, at least he was making her work for it. The way she had him pinned down brought their faces close enough that he could make out the individual freckles on her cheeks, making this moment far more intimate than sparring had ever involved in Ben’s memory.

It was that stupid publicity-grabbing eye contact stunt from last night. Somehow the unease of that had carried over into this morning. Ugh.

He let his muscles relax, causing Rey to nearly fall over on top of him as he stopped resisting her grip on his wrists. “I yield,” he said. “You were right. I do need to relearn how to fight.”

She smirked. “That’s what I thought.”

There was a pause as he and Rey stared into each other’s eyes, their faces only centimeters apart. He was the one to break the spell when he cleared his throat. “So, uh,” he said. If his voice sounded oddly breathless to his ears, well, they _had_ just been fighting. “Are you going to let me go?”

“Oh.” Rey practically flung herself off of him, making him wonder if she’d used the Force to propel her movements. Seeing how quickly she moved to get away from him offended him somehow. Sure, he probably didn’t smell too great right now, but what else did she expect? They were both covered in sweat. “I think that’s enough for today.”

And if her voice sounded oddly breathless, too, it must have been the workout as well.

* * *

Ben couldn’t stop replaying the interaction in his mind all day. He was preoccupied by how strange it was that he’d been able to mostly ignore his connection to the Force for over a decade, and then this Jedi walked into his life and suddenly he could feel it tugging at his awareness in a way he couldn’t deny. His distraction was so obvious that he was in the middle of a meeting with the Higher Educational Expenses Budget Committee when he heard someone call his name.

“Oh,” he said, pulling his awareness back into the meeting. “I apologize. My mind was elsewhere.”

Senators Zygli Bruss and Andrithal Robb-Voti exchanged sly glances. “It’s true, then?” Zygli asked. “The ‘famously eligible Senator Solo’ has a new paramour?”

Ben felt his face heat up, despite knowing that this was exactly the sort of reaction he and Rey were looking for. “I do,” he admitted. “Again, I apologize. It won’t happen again.”

Zygli, Andrithal, and Brasmon laughed. “You’re fine,” Andrithal said. “Lovestruck is a cute look on you, kid.” Ben scowled. Andrithal had known him since he was a child, but that didn’t mean she could refer to her colleague as ‘kid.’

Brasmon agreed. “We were almost wondering if you were a droid,” he said. “You work so hard and rarely make any obvious effort to maintain a social life outside of your Senate obligations.”

“Excuse me for taking my job seriously,” Ben said acidly.

“Relax,” Zygli said. “We’re just teasing you. What’s their name?”

“Her name is Rey,” Ben said, falling into the story he and Rey had agreed on. “She’s a Jedi knight. We met when she and my uncle were visiting Hosnian Prime recently, and it was love at first sight.”

He held his breath, expecting the senators to call him on his banthashit. Ben Solo, uttering the phrase ‘love at first sight’? The thought should have been appalling, and yet, the delighted faces of his colleagues was a relief.

“A Jedi, huh?” Andrithal said. “I bet you’re real happy your uncle did away with the rules on Jedi relationships.”

“Indeed.” Ben attempted to calm down by reminding himself that this was the whole point of faking a relationship with Rey, to let people think he was too distracted to pay attention to anything else. So why did he feel so protective about it? It wasn’t like they had a real relationship they were trying to hide. “She came to Hosnian Prime to learn more about the Republic and how we operate, since it’s hard to get a good understanding of that from Yavin IV. The new Jedi Order is trying to promote more cross-functional education so that they don’t stay so sequestered away.”

“I’m sure that has nothing to do with wanting to stay here with you,” Zygli said dryly.

“It’s...a convenient excuse,” he admitted. “We can barely stand to be apart, which is part of the reason why she’s been spending so much time in the Senate buildings.” He cleared his throat, ready for the conversation to move on. He’d given them enough information. With any luck, it would spread like wildfire through the Senate and make its way to the ears of whoever was behind the attempts on Ben’s life. “Now, if you’re done prying into my love life, let’s get back to business.”

The meeting continued with no further questions about Rey, but after the other senators had left, Korr walked into his office and shut the door behind herself. “So about Rey.”

“What did she do?” he asked, biting back a groan.

“There’s no way you fell in love just like that, Mr ‘I have no time or energy for relationships so please stop trying to set me up with all your friends,’” she said. “What’s the real story?”

Ben sighed. “It’s a cover,” he admitted. “We’re hoping that the drama of our fake romance pulls attention away from the fact that she’s actually my bodyguard.”

Korr looked delighted. “I knew it!”

“Keep it to yourself,” Ben hissed. “The only other person who knows is Lando, and that’s because he was the one who suggested it.”

She laughed. “I can keep a secret, don’t worry. How’d you fool your family? Your mom is too perceptive for this.”

“I think she’s too thrilled about the idea of Rey being my girlfriend to question it,” he mumbled, feeling the heat rise in his cheeks. “And Rey says that Luke doesn’t want to know any details.”

“This is hilarious,” Korr said, wiping a tear from her eye. “You’re the last person I’d have guessed would agree to something like this.”

“Go on, tell me how terrible I am at romance,” he deadpanned.

“You’re not offended and you know it,” she replied. “I’ll keep your secret, but if anyone asks, they’re going to hear all about how besotted you two are with each other.”

Seeing as that was the whole intent, Ben couldn’t find a way to ask her to stop. “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”

“And I reserve the right to give you shit for it for all eternity,” Korr confirmed.

* * *

By the end of the first week of his and Rey’s fake relationship, Ben had been asked no less than three dozen times about his new ‘paramour.’

“I think it’s working,” Rey said to him as they sat together at the kitchen table in his apartment that evening. “I’ve been keeping tabs on HoloNet mentions about you, and they keep mentioning me. Seems like the galaxy loves a good Jedi/senator romance. Your uncle was right.” It took him a minute to realize she was referring to Lando, not Luke.

Lando had been in touch just long enough to send him a message indicating how impressed he was by Rey’s and Ben’s acting skills. It was difficult to interpret the tone, but Ben suspected he was trying to poke fun at him for how quickly he and Rey had fallen into this role.

“Have you heard from Luke?” Ben asked, wondering how he was taking this.

She nodded. “It was...awkward.”

He snorted. No doubt it was uncomfortable to discuss how she’d fallen madly in love with her boss’s disappointment of a nephew. “I’m sure it was.”

“He doesn’t want to hear the details, which is a relief,” she admitted. “I’m not sure how the other Jedi are taking it. I hadn’t considered that they used to be your classmates, too, until one of them sent me a link to a HoloNet article about us, asking me what the hell I was getting up to on Hosnian Prime.”

“Who was it?” The idea that Tai could have found out about this was unsettling. Ben wasn’t sure which would be worse, Tai asking Rey about it, or Tai asking him about it.

“Master Voe,” she said. “I couldn’t tell from her message if she was more impressed or horrified.”

Ben cringed. “Horrified, I’d wager. She and I never got along to begin with, and she felt it was a betrayal of the entire Jedi Order when I left.”

“It was your choice, though,” Rey said. “Right?”

He nodded. “I never felt like the Order was the right place for me, despite my...well, you know what my family is like.” He sighed. “Honestly? It was a relief when I left, even though I didn’t part on good terms with all of my classmates.” Stars above, he hoped that Tai and Rey weren’t close enough to talk about this. He didn’t want to discuss his past relationship with her; it was none of her business, and he didn’t want her to think he’d been avoiding relationships because he was still hung up on someone he’d broken up with thirteen years ago.

She didn’t respond immediately, making him wonder if she was uncomfortable with the idea that anyone could feel unwelcome among the people who raised her. “I can’t imagine walking away from it,” she finally said. “It’s been my home and my family for so long. I barely even remember my life before Master Tionne found me on Jakku. But I suppose I can see why it’s not for everyone.” She wrinkled her nose at him again. “You don’t strike me as the type who enjoys having to deal with communal living.”

Ben relaxed a little bit. Adjusting to having a roommate had been strange, but it hadn’t been completely terrible. “No,” he said. “But I suppose you’re not the worst roommate in the galaxy.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “That almost sounds like a compliment.”

“It almost is.”

“Well, then. I almost thank you for it.”

“You’re almost welcome.”

The banter was nice, he realized. He and Korr were friendly, but they didn’t joke like this. He had to be in Senate Mode most of the time he was with her, and Senate Mode didn’t usually allow for joking around.

“So,” she asked. “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Or are you such a workaholic that you spend your weekends locked up in your office, too?”

“Sometimes I do,” he told her. “But if we’re really going to sell this, we should probably be seen looking lovesick in public.”

She hummed. “Go on.”

“There’s a banquet tomorrow evening that Senator Sheltav Fleck of Malastare is putting on to benefit some charity or another. I received an invitation, and it was heavily implied that I should bring a date along with me.” He was expecting her to respond with more banter; instead, she looked uncomfortable. “What is it?” he asked.

“You keep harping on my Jedi clothes,” she explained. “I’m not sure I have anything appropriate for a banquet. Unless we want to emphasize that I’m with the Order?”

He shook his head. “I think that’s common knowledge by now, and we want to make it seem like you’re too smitten to pay attention to Jedi things, remember?” When it became clear that she wasn’t happy with that answer, he knew he had to do something. “I have an idea,” he told her.

She turned her attention back on him, locking eyes across the table. “I’m listening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sentence Ben overhears in the restaurant means ["Can I visit the dancers backstage?" in Huttese](https://starwarslanguages.fandom.com/wiki/Huttese).
> 
> [Elbina pepper](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Elbina_pepper), [Lemus corn](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lemus_corn), and [nerf tenderloin](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Nerf_tenderloin) exist somewhere in SW canon.
> 
> [Andrithal Robb-Voti](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Andrithal_Robb-Voti) and [Zygli Bruss](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Zygli_Bruss) are politicians in the New Republic.


	4. Distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Ben Solo was spotted last night at Sheltav Fleck’s charity dinner with the partner he’s been inseparable from recently. The two looked cozy, a word that has never been applied to the Chandrilan senator before. Multiple rumors have arisen as to her identity and how they met, the juiciest of which is that she’s with the Jedi Order that Senator Solo left behind in favor of pursuing politics. Regardless of her background, it’s obvious that these two are completely unable to keep their hands off each other._ — Core Entertainment Weekly, 34/03/27 ABY

“Have you looked at what people are saying about you two on the HoloNet recently?” Korr asked as she, Rey, and Ben made their way to a tailor to find Rey something gala-worthy to wear tonight.

Rey sneaked a glance at Ben, who refused to look her way. “Not really,” she admitted. “Just at the headlines.”

“I set up an alert for any mention of your romance.” Korr sounded far too smug about the whole thing; it did not help Rey’s confidence in the ruse at all.

“You should really stop acting like it’s a big joke,” Ben said. His tone was mild, but his Force signature practically vibrated with annoyance. If Rey wasn’t so embarrassed by the whole thing, she might have been amused. “Someone could overhear us and get the wrong idea.”

“Would you rather I simper endlessly about how cute you two are? Or rather—” She pulled out her holopad where she presumably had a number of articles pulled up. “I could read you this article titled ‘Thirty Thirsty Reactions to the Galaxy’s New Favorite Jedi/Senator Couple,’ if you’d prefer. I never get the opportunity to tease you like this, Ben. Let me enjoy it while it lasts.”

It was one thing to know that people found their relationship cute or romantic. It was an entirely different one to know that people were publicly posting their thoughts about anything sexual between her and Ben. True, she didn’t find him to be bad-looking at all, but the idea of doing anything sexual with him was...uncomfortable, to say the least. And that didn’t even touch on how squeamish she felt knowing that people were very publicly discussing their fake sex life.

Ben was about thirty seconds from snapping; it was clear from the expression on his face. “How do they know I’m a Jedi?” Rey asked, hoping that discussion would distract Korr enough that she didn’t bring up the thirst posts again.

“Someone probably saw the lightsaber clipped to your belt and made the connection.” Ah. So they’d moved the conversation away from strangers speculating on what they looked like in bed together back to the more familiar territory of Ben’s general disdain for Rey’s chosen life path. Good.

“You don’t need to sound so grouchy about it,” Rey hissed, elbowing him. It was a little awkward, given they were holding hands, but it got the point across.

She and Ben had agreed that hand-holding was the most appropriate display of public affection they could do. It gave the impression that they couldn’t let go of each other without crossing a line that neither of them was comfortable with. Rey supposed that she should have been offended that Ben was so squeamish about the idea of kissing her, but it was mostly a relief that she wouldn’t have to worry about offending him, either.

“Yeah, Ben,” Korr said, sounding smug. “You don’t need to sound so grouchy about your _girlfriend’s_ profession.”

He grumbled something under his breath that Rey didn’t catch. Korr, she’d been informed, had figured out that Rey and Ben’s relationship was a bunch of banthashit. Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it—she was more than happy to stoke the flames of all the gossip surrounding them. “Doesn’t the galaxy have better things to do than speculate on the love lives of its senators?” she’d asked Ben the night before.

“Consider us lucky that things are peaceful enough for this to be such a high priority in the news cycles,” he’d said darkly.

That had shut her up rather quickly.

Rey hadn’t argued over breakfast when Ben broached the topic of going to a tailor to get her something to wear tonight, and she suspected he’d invited Korr along as a buffer. Having to spend so much of their time together was exhausting, and if she was being honest, it was nice having someone else in on the secret. Which made her feel guilty that she hadn’t confessed the plan to Finn, her closest friend in the galaxy. He was at an offsite retreat with some of the other newly knighted Jedi—a retreat she was supposed to be at—and she was using that as an excuse for why she hadn’t commed him to fill him in on what she was up to in lieu of the retreat.

Kriff. She didn’t want to lie to him, but saying “I’m faking a relationship with a senator, who happens to be a former Jedi with full Skywalker power and drama” over a holocall was not a great idea for a whole host of reasons.

“I have no idea what Jedi usually wear when they’re not on duty,” Korr murmured as she and Rey followed Ben into the tailor’s shop, “but I’m sure we can find you something in here that’s up to His Highness’s standards.”

Rey frowned. “You mean Ben?”

“It’s a joke,” Korr clarified. “I used to intern for Leia, and I grew up thinking of her as ‘Princess Leia’ instead of ‘Senator Organa.’ Ben doesn’t claim the title, seeing as the planet no longer exists, but I think it’s funny.”

“Kriff, I had no idea,” Rey murmured. She should have made the connection earlier, but she’d been so focused on thinking of Ben as Master Skywalker’s nephew that she’d completely forgotten that his mother was a princess of Alderaan.

“Don’t feel bad about it,” Korr said. “He hates it when I call him that. I never do it when other people are around, but, well…” She trailed off, looking at Rey. “You’re not the same as the other people we’re surrounded by all day, are you?”

“I guess not.”

She was saved from having to continue that conversation by the sound of a droid rolling out to take her measurements. Korr took that as an opportunity to pull out her holopad—reading more gossip columns about Rey and Ben, presumably—while Ben was deep in conversation with the clerk.

The droid chirped out measurements in binary as it draped measuring tape around various parts of Rey’s body, then it whirred away, chittering to itself as it disappeared into a back room. “How long is this going to take?” Rey asked Ben as he returned to where she and Korr were waiting.

“They’ve already got some formalwear in stock. It depends on how much tailoring needs to be done. Is there any particular style you prefer?”

She frowned. “Whatever you think is appropriate for this event, I suppose.” It was easier to go along with whatever he had planned than it was to argue over clothing again. “As long as I can bring my lightsaber, of course.”

“Of course,” he said dryly. “How could I forget that requirement?”

What followed was an hour and a half of Rey being whisked away to a dressing room to try on all sorts of clothing and adornments. She was given a variety of options ranging from suits to dresses so big she needed three droids to help get her in and out of them. “You cannot possibly be serious,” she said as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

The tailor, a Cerean, smirked. “He’s the grandson of Padme Amidala,” he said. “She was known for her lavish outfits. I figured it didn’t hurt to throw Naboo formalwear in the mix.”

“Absolutely not,” she said, already trying to tug the monstrosity off. “I can barely move in this, let alone—” She nearly bit her own tongue as she choked back the words _be his bodyguard_. “Dance,” she finished, knowing it was a far more believable answer.

“Ah,” the tailor said as the droids helped Rey out of the dress. “We can’t have that, can we?”

In the end, Rey chose a green gown with a skirt big enough to conceal a thigh holster, but not so elaborate that she felt afraid to move in it. The bodice was snug, highlighting her curves, and there was a hint of décolletage that Rey was surprised to see highlighted.

She wasn’t used to feeling so pretty. Vanity was not encouraged in the Jedi Order, and she felt a little guilty for how much she enjoyed looking at her reflection in the mirror.

“Senator Solo will be pleased when he sees you in this tonight,” the tailor said he packed the dress away. “Who wouldn’t be?”

Rey forced a laugh. “Right,” she said, struggling to sound like this was something she did on a regular basis.

“Of course, you two must be so lovestruck that he’d find you beautiful even if you were dressed in rags,” the tailor continued, “but a lovely gown doesn’t hurt.”

“Of course,” she echoed, trying to play off her nerves as coyness. “I can’t wait to watch his reaction when he sees me in this.” That, at least, was half-true. After all of the fuss he’d made about her Jedi robes, he’d better kriffing be satisfied with the dress.

Ben and Korr were deep in conversation when Rey emerged from the dressing room while a droid packed the dress safely into a bag for her to carry home. Korr was the first one to spot her, eyes lighting up as she asked, “Ooh, what did you get? A suit? A gown? An elaborate set of robes?”

“A dress,” Rey replied, glancing at Ben to see his reaction. There was nothing in his expression to betray his thoughts, which was disappointing.

(Not that she cared. Obviously.)

“You’ll have to send me holos later,” Korr said as Ben finalized the payment with the tailor.

“You’re not going?” Rey asked. She’d been hoping for an ally tonight, and she wasn’t sure that Ben counted.

“Nah, I’ve got a date. A real one, unlike—” She laughed. “Well, we’ll see.”

Rey was saved from having to figure out a response to that unnervingly cryptic comment by Ben. “What’s this about a real date?” he asked, waving them out the door. There was just enough emphasis on the word _real_ to get the message across: _Don’t kark this up for us._ It was unclear whether it was meant for Rey or Korr.

“We’re just talking about how I can’t wait to see all the holos of you two plastered on the HoloNet tomorrow,” Korr said as they paused at an intersection. “Do me a favor?”

“What?” Ben asked, sounding wary.

“Be flashy. Get the press’s attention. We could all use the entertainment.”

Rey felt her cheeks heat up as Ben scowled at Korr. “Our relationship isn’t supposed to be entertain—” he started to say, but then he stopped.

Oh. Right. That was exactly what their relationship was supposed to be.

Korr laughed. “Have fun tonight, you two.”

* * *

Rey knew what formal clothing was like in other parts of the galaxy from her time spent reading and watching holofilms over the years. She knew what Ben looked like in formal clothing, too, from the secret HoloNet search she’d run on him a few days ago while he was in a meeting. 

Neither of those things prepared her for how he looked in person.

He was imposing no matter what he wore, but the formality of the situation brought a new awareness of just how much space he commanded. Although he was dressed mostly in black—because of course he was, and Rey was _not_ going to smile about it—the suit was embroidered with patterns in a traditional Chandrilan style, drawing attention to his position while remaining tasteful.

She closed her eyes as if about to perform a mini-meditation to bring herself back to the present. _Focus_ , she told herself. _Listen to the Force. Let it guide you._ That only seemed to backfire, however; focusing on the Force simply made Ben’s presence even bigger in her consciousness.

“What are you doing?” he asked, causing her to open her eyes and see his annoyed expression.

Rey scowled. “Jedi stuff,” she snapped, hoping it would get him to shut up. It worked, which only made her more annoyed, for a reason she couldn’t decipher.

“Come on,” Ben said, holding the front door open. “Let’s go. I hate banquets and the sooner we can get there, the sooner we can leave.”

“Why do you hate them?” she asked, completely unsurprised by this fact.

“Too much attention. People are annoying. The usual.”

“You, hating being around other people? I’m shocked.”

He glanced at her, his expression softening slightly. “You know me so well already, _sweetheart._ ”

_Again with the pet names,_ Rey wanted to say. She’d never really gotten comfortable with the idea of going by any name other than her own. Even the idea of taking on a family name felt strange now; the only ones that might have made sense were from the Jedi Masters who had raised her, and something about the idea of being called Rey Skywalker was uncomfortable. Aloud, she said, “Of course I do, _darling._ ”

Ben snorted. “Come on, I’m sure you’re hungry and they’ll have food there.”

He’d already mentioned the food thing multiple times, leading Rey to wonder what he saw when he looked at her. She was slender by human female standards, but she wasn’t underfed by any means. Maybe it was meant to be a slight on the food they had on Yavin IV. In any case, it annoyed her, along with the pet names and the general disdain for anything involving her chosen lifestyle among the Jedi.

“Should I know anything about what we’re about to walk into?” she asked as the speeder drove them to the banquet hall. “Like, what about any political rivals who may be planning to attack you? Or, worse, what if you have political allies who want to betray you, and they’re the ones who are behind the attacks?”

“Having political rivals is simply a fact of life when one takes up a career in politics,” Ben pointed out. “It’s always a risk, but security is good at these sorts of events. The last two times I was attacked, I was very isolated. I doubt whoever’s trying to kill me is going to switch it up and attempt something in a very well-publicized event. In fact,” he added, looking out the window in a way she knew was intended to be a pointed effort to ignore her, “if it weren’t for the fake relationship thing, I wouldn’t need your services at all. Having a bodyguard at something like this would be extraneous with the security measures in place, and it would just make me look scared.”

Rey didn’t want to consider why it hurt to hear that he didn’t particularly want her company this evening. “Well, tough,” she said, trying to push the blow away. “Even if you weren’t bringing me as your date, I’d find a way to be there.”

“So you’d stalk me, then. Good to know.”

“Hey! I’m doing this on your uncle’s orders.”

He sighed. “How could I forget?”

They spent the rest of the ride in tense silence. It wasn’t until she and Ben were walking into the building, her arm tucked into his elbow, that he spoke again. “You look lovely, by the way. Can I assume you have a lightsaber hidden in there somewhere?”

“I have a thigh holster,” she admitted. It wasn’t the most comfortable way to carry a weapon, but the voluminous skirts of the dress hid it from view, and the asymmetrical cut meant that it would be easy to grab in a hurry. With any luck, it would be overkill for an event like this.

He snorted. “Glad to know you come prepared.”

“And you’re not armed?”

“What do I need to be armed for? I have you.”

“It’s a good thing we’ve been training, then, isn’t it?” Working out together had been more fun than Rey had anticipated when she’d first suggested it. She hadn’t missed how annoyed Ben was the first few days when she’d crashed his workouts, but ever since they’d tried sparring, it had gotten a lot smoother. He was out of practice, sure, but even within a few days he’d become a much more difficult opponent. He had the advantage of height and weight and he knew how to use it.

As far as the Force went...well, they’d ease into that. She wanted to start training Ben in the Force as soon as possible, because it wasn’t like his life was going to be danger-free after their month was up. He’d made it very clear how reluctant he was to do anything like that, but Rey was certain that he had to feel the pull of it the same way she did.

There was something familiar about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. The most plausible explanation was that she’d spent so much time with his uncle that she’d simply picked up on the Skywalker family Force signature, but the more she thought about it, the less likely that seemed. She would have said they actually had crossed paths once before, except that she’d arrived after Ben had fled the Jedi Academy. She’d been curious about the student who had run away so suddenly, but now that she’d gotten to know him a little better, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to ask his former classmates about.

Besides, she thought as they made their way into the crowded banquet hall. She’d rather hear his story from him. She didn’t think he’d take well to her snooping around, and she at least owed him the benefit of hearing what he had to say about it.

True to Ben’s prediction, there were media groups lurking around with cameras and recorders, trying to interview various politicians and other celebrities in attendance. As a young, attractive senator from a famously powerful family, Ben’s reluctance to be in the spotlight only made him more compelling for the press to get interviews with. She could feel his anxiety and frustration spike in the Force when a couple of camera droids started moving in their direction, and she couldn’t simply let him stew over it.

“Relax,” she whispered in his ear, leaning in as if she actually were a woman telling her _beau_ , as some of the tabloids put it, a secret. “This is what we’re aiming for, right? We’re too in love to pay attention to things like assassination attempts.”

She could tell he was struggling to keep a straight face when he said, “Of course, _my dove._ ”

“Dove?” She didn’t bother to hide her laugh, knowing it would make them look cozier. “What kind of pet name is that?”

“Would you prefer I call you my tooka cat?”

“No.”

“Dove it is, then. Can we go? I really don’t want to talk to a reporter.”

She nodded, not particularly wanting it, either. As long as they were seen together, maybe the whispering and giggling was enough.

They managed to avoid reporters through the dinner; as soon as his colleagues realized he was there, they immediately looped the two of them into their dinner conversation. Rey was only half-paying attention to the discussion, which mostly revolved around their colleagues and various policies that were being fought over. The rest of her attention was focused on scanning their surroundings for threats. She detected plenty of vicious desire for political rivals to be caught up in scandals, a number of people who were having affairs with colleagues on the other side of the political aisle, and other petty things that had nothing to do with Ben. The only thing she could sense around Ben was curiosity, and she was positive that she was the entire reason for that.

Apparently, the group of senators and representatives they were seated with had already been informed of Ben’s and Rey’s fake backstory, because she didn’t have to field off any ‘how did you two meet’ questions. The way the two of them stuck by each other’s side seemed to be enough, and Rey was only drawn into conversation a few times to discuss what a Jedi was doing on Hosnian Prime.

“I’m here to learn more about the Republic and how the Senate operates,” she explained, not for the first time. “The fact that my assignment happens to be at my partner’s place of work is…” She paused, noticing the way they were all eating her words up. “Well, it’s a lucky coincidence, isn’t it?”

“Did you two know each other before this?” Representative Arbo of Coruscant asked. “I mean, it’s common knowledge that Ben—”

“Rey arrived at the Jedi Temple after my departure,” Ben said smoothly. Despite the casualness of his tone, she didn’t miss the way he tensed up beside her. She shifted to press her thigh against his to remind him to stay calm. If nothing else, it would distract him into focusing on how much he couldn’t stand her instead of the Jedi Order. “We didn’t meet until recently.”

“And then it was love at first sight, eh?” Senator Madmund said, grinning like a loon.

“Indeed it was,” Ben replied, his dry tone at odds with the words.

Seeing the way a couple of the senators exchanged skeptical glances, Rey couldn’t let it go. “He’s a charmer, I know,” she told them, reaching up to pinch Ben’s cheek for emphasis. He brushed her hand away, but instead of letting go completely, he twined their fingers together and kissed the back of her hand.

“Only for you,” he said, looking her straight in the eyes. The thing was, Rey knew it was entirely fake, but having his gaze pinned on hers _did_ something to her, because she felt her mouth go dry with the intimacy of the gesture. The moment was shattered by the tittering of Ben’s colleagues, who couldn’t resist poking fun at Ben for being so smitten. He didn’t let Rey’s hand go; whether it was just part of the show or not, she couldn’t tell.

They made it through dinner in one piece, but Rey didn’t let herself relax. She was on alert at all times, both to make herself appear to be completely in love with Ben and to scan for threats. Despite his reassurances, she didn’t think it was out of the realm of possibility for him to be attacked here.

Also, they were trying to avoid getting pulled into an interview, feeling that their acting skills were not up to being put on display across the HoloNet. Among politicians, it was one thing, but neither of them had faith that their ability to improvise would pass muster among many of the people who would actually care about a Jedi/senator romance. They’d almost made it through the evening unscathed, but as they were headed out the door, a reporter stood right in their path.

“Kriff,” Ben muttered. “It’s too late to walk away without looking like we’re intentionally avoiding it.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Rey asked, angling herself so that she was leaning into him, whispering in his ear.

“We could—” He paused, then cleared his throat. “I mean, if you’re comfortable with it, we could kiss. They’d probably catch it on camera, but that might be enough for them to let it go.”

“Oh.” Despite her Jedi training telling her to keep her emotions in check, she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what it would be like to kiss Ben. She wasn’t particularly excited about the prospect of an image of her kissing someone being plastered all over the HoloNet, but she couldn’t deny how easy of an out it would give them. “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. Um. Should I—?” She tilted her head up, placing a hand on his cheek. The fact that her thumb swept across his lips was a complete accident, but she felt him shiver anyway.

“Let me—” He let his gaze linger on hers for a moment as if asking for permission one last time. _Oh, just go ahead and do it already,_ Rey thought as she pulled him closer, closing the distance between their bodies.

It wasn’t Rey’s first kiss. Or even her second, or third. She’d had dalliances with a couple of her classmates over the years. But this was the first kiss she’d experienced that made her feel like all of her nerves were on fire.

Despite what Korr had implied earlier, this clearly wasn’t Ben’s first time, either. He was the one who deepened the kiss, opening his mouth so that her tongue could slide between his lips. She felt his grip on her waist tighten, as if he didn’t want to let her go. In fact, she was so absorbed in the kiss that she completely forgot that the whole thing was being faked for the cameras until she heard someone whistle.

_Kriff._

She and Ben broke apart, staring wide-eyed at each other. Hopefully, it made them look lovestruck instead of shocked at what had just occurred between them. “I think it worked.” Her throat was so dry that the words came out in a whisper. “Will the press eat it right up?”

There was a split second where she swore he was going to say _I’m going to eat_ you _right up_ , which said a lot about her headspace at the moment. Instead, Ben simply said, “Yes. Are we ready to go home now?”

Then they left, hand-in-hand, all sorts of rumors flying around in their wake.

The speeder ride back to Ben’s apartment was the most awkward one yet. Rey was trying not to think about how warm and solid he was and how starsdamned overwhelming that kiss was. _Relax,_ she told herself. _You’re getting too caught up in this. It’s all a ploy; you’ll be back on Yavin IV in three weeks and you can put this all behind you._

If Ben’s body language was any indication, he was just as uncomfortable as she was, although surely it wasn’t for the same reason. Most likely he was wondering where the hell she’d learned to kiss like that if she’d been living at a Jedi Temple for most of her life.

Assuming he was impressed, anyway. Maybe he hadn’t liked the kiss and he was thinking _This is what I get for pretending to date a Jedi_.

The whole thing was so uncomfortable that Rey was too consumed with panic about overstepping to pay attention to their surroundings as she and Ben slunk upstairs in tense, awkward silence.

“I hope that wasn’t presumptuous of me back there,” Ben finally said.

“Pardon?”

“The, um.” If she’d been brave enough to sneak a glance at him, she’d have seen him looking bright red and mildly flustered. “The kiss. I just figured—”

She shook her head, wondering if it would be welcome right now if she were to rest her hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him down. (Probably not, she decided.) “It’s fine,” she said, erring on the side of caution and staying where she was out of arm’s reach. “I mean, it was implied that we’d have to do that, given what we’re trying to fake.”

“Right. Of course.”

Another pause. “Well, I guess we’ll find out tomorrow how well that worked,” she said.

He nodded. “Indeed.”

They both stood there, lingering in his kitchen. He seemed like he had something else he wanted to say, but Rey wasn’t sure how to coax it out of him. She had a million questions, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to vocalize them yet. Better to wait and meditate on it. “Well, good night,” she squeaked, scurrying down the hall for the guest room.

* * *

Rey had just barely managed to fall asleep after tossing and turning for what felt like hours, wondering about The Kiss, when the sound of glass breaking caught her attention. She was fully awake instantly, reaching out in the Force to sense for disturbances. When she heard Ben shout, she was on her feet in an instant, lightsaber in hand.

There was another shout coming from the direction of his bedroom. Alarm bells rang in Rey’s head as she sensed the Force screaming _danger, danger_ at her. As soon as she tore open the door to his room, she leapt for the assailants, two of whom were tussling with Ben, who had half of a set of binders clamped around one wrist.

“Get away from him!” She threw out a hand, tossing them both away from Ben with the Force. A third assailant, who was probably waiting for her, judging from the way they sprang at her, attacked with a lightsaber-resistant weapon held in their hands.

They must have expected her to be in the room with him when they attacked, she realized. Had she and Ben been followed home from the banquet? Kriff, she should have been paying attention instead of wallowing in her own self-absorbed confusion!

Ben, fortunately, wasn’t completely useless at self-defense, and he must have kept a blaster someplace handy because while Rey dueled with the third assailant, she caught Ben shooting blasts at her foe. “You’d better not karking hit me!” she snapped, dodging a swing of the assailant’s weapon.

“I’m a better shot than you give me credit for,” Ben retorted, but he turned his aim on the other two assailants instead.

The fight was brief, all things considered; two of the assailants fled as soon as the sounds of police sirens appeared. Ben had managed to wrestle one of them to the floor despite the set of binders clamped around one wrist. Rey had half a mind to jump out the window and leap for the getaway ship, but she sensed the Force saying _No, don’t leave his side,_ and she knew better than to ignore that warning.

She turned towards Ben, who was kneeling over the invader. She held her lightsaber in front of her, ready to fight off another attacker even as the blood pounded in her ears. “What happened?” she gasped.

“They must have followed us—” he started

“Home from the banquet,” she said, gutted with guilt over having been too wrapped up in herself to do her job. “I’m so sorry, I—” She broke off when she saw Ben’s expression. “What is it?”

“I think—I think I can feel your guilt,” he said. “You think this is your fault because you’re supposed to protect me.”

“Obviously,” she snapped. “Ben, I can’t believe I—” She had a million things she wanted to babble, but they had to focus. “Later,” she muttered, more to herself than anything. “Who is this?” she asked, nodding at the assailant who seemed to be out cold.

“I knocked them out using the Force, I think,” Ben said. “Not sure how long it will last, though. I’ve never done that before. I didn’t even know I could do it. Or rather…” He gave her a look she didn’t know how to interpret. “Never mind,” he said, looking down at the assailant. “They’ll be brought in for questioning. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some answers this time.”

Rey turned off the lightsaber, but she didn’t set it down yet. She took the binder clamped around Ben’s wrist, waved a hand over it, and opened it up using the Force. “Thanks,” he murmured, stretching his wrist. She grabbed the assailant’s arms behind their back and clamped them together. They were human—or near-human; the hood could have been hiding lekku instead of hair—so this would have to do for now.

“Ben,” she whispered, feeling wracked with guilt over letting him down.

“Hey,” he said, taking her hand and holding it up to his neck to rest on his pulse point. “See? I’m fine. Heart’s racing from adrenaline, but I’m no worse for wear. You didn’t do anything wrong, Rey.” He dropped his grip on her wrist, but she held her hand in place, marveling at the way she could practically see the connection between them. He’d been worried about her, too, she realized. He hadn’t been sure if she’d been attacked, and his relief when she’d come rushing into his room was so strong, it was practically heady.

They were still frozen in that position when security burst through the door, having been alarmed by the noise. Ben and Rey jerked back from each other as whatever spell they’d been caught in shattered. Rey was on her feet first; Ben still had the unconscious assailant pinned to the floor, and the two of them talked over each other in their haste to explain what had happened.

The sky was nearly light by the time public security had taken the assailant away, leaving Rey, Ben, and the Chief of Staff in the Security Bureau. “You shouldn’t continue staying here while you've got someone sending assassins after you," Captain Ardellian told them.

Ben and Rey exchanged exhausted glances. "Where do you suggest we stay?" Ben asked. "It's not like I have another apartment hidden somewhere in Republic City." Rey didn't feel completely safe here, now that the assassins knew where Ben lived, but she understood his reluctance to leave. It was his home, after all.

_And you let your guard down and he was almost killed in it._ The guilt stabbed at her. Ben must have sensed it, because he reached out to rest his hand on her shoulder as if he knew she needed the help feeling grounded right now. Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when he said, "Hey. Neither of us was expecting this."

"I should have—" She should have what? Sharing his bed was completely out of the question. His home was the only place they didn't need to fake their relationship. And yet she couldn't help feeling like she actually needed to be in there with him. She was afraid to let him out of her sight. No one in the Jedi Order had ever suggested that a knight might feel this way about a charge. She wasn't going to raise any alarms yet, but the thought caused unease to curl in her stomach, adding to the raw nerves she'd been experiencing all evening.

"It's done now," Ben murmured.

"We have a safe house," Captain Ardellian said. "We can put you in protective custody temporarily."

Rey balked at the idea of going to a new building that she hadn't scoped out before, but..."For how long?" she asked.

Captain Ardellian took a long look at them both. "Long enough for you to get some rest, at the very least. You both look like you need it.”

Rey looked at Ben, who seemed to be as thrilled about the situation as she was. He was exhausted, dark circles looking like bruises under his eyes. _Do you think it's safe?_ his expression asked.

She nodded at him, then said to the captain, "Give us a few minutes to pack some things. We could both use some rest, and I don't think we'll find it here right now." When the captain stepped out of the room to give them privacy as she made arrangements for a safe house, Rey murmured, "I need to grab some things from my room. Are you okay?"

He gave her a look. "I think I can handle being alone in my bedroom for five minutes. Or, rather," he said, looking at the mess of glass and charred blast marks, "what's left of it." She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off before she could say anything. "You can sense me in the Force, right?"

She could. It felt like a stronger connection than it had before, but then again, Ben was dipping into Force abilities he hadn't touched in years. No wonder it was a bit wonky. "I feel like I can practically hear your thoughts," she said.

"Let's hope not," he replied, adding an artificial lightness to his tone. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Now go. The sooner you grab your things, the sooner we can get out of here."

* * *

The safe house was on the other side of the city from Ben’s apartment, and there was only one bed.

“Well, they do think we’re a couple,” Rey murmured, trying to ignore the distress she felt coming from him. She wasn’t particularly thrilled at the idea of sharing a bed with him either, and yet she was offended by his reluctance anyway.

He simply sighed. “You should sleep,” he told her.

“So should you.”

He shook his head. “I don’t feel comfortable with both of us being asleep at the same time. What if we were followed again?”

Rey rolled her eyes. “First of all, I’m _your_ bodyguard. If anyone should stay awake to keep watch, it should be me. Second of all, I think we’re safe for now. There are security droids all over this place, and I don’t sense a disturbance in the Force. Do you?”

“No, but you didn’t sense one earlier, either.”

She felt her cheeks heat up as the guilt started gnawing at her all over again. “Well, I’m paying closer attention now,” she snapped. “You need to sleep. Don’t make me knock you out with the Force.”

“Some bodyguard you’ll be if you’re operating on no sleep,” he retorted. “Besides, I’m just as capable of using the Force as you. I did earlier, didn’t I?”

“You stopped training as a Jedi what, thirteen years ago?” she pointed out. “I doubt you can hold your own against me. Not when it comes to the Force.”

“I’m a Skywalker. We’re practically part Force already.”

“Family name isn’t everything,” she replied. “I don’t have one, and I’m the most powerful Jedi who’s been knighted in the current Order.” It was turning into a stupid argument, but they were both too overtired to think straight.

Ben switched tactics. “If you’re my bodyguard, that means I’m your boss, right?” Ignoring Rey’s cry of protest, he blundered on. “In that case, I’m ordering you to take a break. I’ll stay up and keep watch.”

Rey was practically seeing red. “I will knock you out with the Force if I have to!”

“Not if I knock you out first!”

The resulting tussle had Rey and Ben holding their hands up at each other, both of them struggling to knock the other out using the Force. It was utterly ridiculous and showed exactly how sleep deprived they both were, but if Ben wasn’t going to yield, neither was Rey.

“Just let me do my kriffing job,” she hissed.

“Stop acting like I can’t take care of myself!”

“This is what I’ve been trained to do, you nerfherd—”

Something snapped between them as they both fought through the Force. One minute, Rey was practically spitting with how angry she was; the next, she was in Ben’s head and he was in hers.

_A young boy standing outside of the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, watching his father fly away._

_A girl screaming “Come back!” as a Crolute holds her by the arm while they watch a ship disappear into the sky._

_A teenager, moody and dark-haired, feeling more and more out-of-place among his supposed peers. “There’s something off-putting about Ben,” he overhears one whisper to another._

_“Didn’t you know? Darth Vader is his grandfather.”_

_“No wonder he’s so weird.”_

_A child, landing on Yavin IV for the first time, already plotting a way to return to Jakku to wait for the family she has yet to accept are gone._

_Ben, sixteen years old, running away without warning, leaving only a note behind._

_Rey, nineteen years old, nervously awaiting her Trials in hopes of finally being equal to the knights who raised her._

“Get—”

“Out—”

“Of—”

“My—”

“Head!”

The connection snapped between them with enough strength to send them both sprawling. Rey blinked, trying to clear the memories and visions from her sight. Across the room, Ben was doing the same.

Even though she wasn’t locked in his memories anymore, she could still feel him more keenly than she had before. It was different from anything she’d experienced, and despite throwing up all of her basic shields, she could still feel him tethered to her.

Uh-oh.

“Rey,” Ben said, rubbing his head. “What the _hell_ was that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Arbo](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Arbo_\(Senator\))
> 
> [Orris Madmund](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Orris_Madmund)
> 
> Yes, there are people out in the galaxy writing RPF in this au. No, Rey and Ben will not have to endure reading any of it :)


	5. Upgrading to Fake Newlyweds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Of course we would be thrilled to host Ben and his partner while the Senate is on recess! You know that Varykino is open to your family as well, Leia. Ryoo and I are tickled pink about their cover story, but we’ll keep the identities of our guests a secret. Naboo is such a popular honeymoon destination that no one will think twice about a newlywed couple traveling from Hosnian Prime._ — Correspondence from Pooja Naberrie to Leia Organa, 34/03/27 ABY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder that this fic is rated E.

Rey had only been in his life for a week, and Ben already longed for the day when things would go back to normal. It wasn’t her fault that she’d been assigned to be his bodyguard, but that didn’t make the ordeal easier to stomach.

They stared at each other from across the small bedroom in Republic City’s security safehouse, reeling from the onslaught of memories. Her gaze was darting all over the place as if she was trying to reassure herself that she was back in the present now.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I—I can’t stop it.”

Despite what he’d said not even five minutes ago, Ben’s half-completed Force training hadn’t prepared him for anything like this. He’d never been so aware of another being. Even with the full length of the safehouse bedroom between them, he could feel how fast Rey’s heart was beating. Every ache and bit of exhaustion she felt, he felt, too.

“I can feel you, too,” she said, wincing. “You’re—loud.”

It was difficult to separate his own thoughts from hers. The emotional rollercoaster of the last twelve hours didn’t make it any easier. “So are you.”

Neither of them spoke as they tried to untangle themselves. “I don’t think it’s working,” Rey said. “Kriff, Ben, I can feel your headache.”

“And whose fault is that?” he snapped, using anger to cover up the twinge of guilt he felt at her having to endure his pain as well as all of her aches.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Both of us. Neither of us.”

“What _is_ this?” he asked. “I’ve never felt this before with anyone.” Sure, he’d felt a pull towards her since the day they’d met, but that was nothing like what he was experiencing now. They were connected so deeply in the Force that he knew was dangerous if they got too swept up into it. Between this new connection and the kiss at the banquet—oh, kriff, _the kiss_ —he was reeling with new information that he was afraid to delve too deeply into with Rey around.

It had been a surprise, how much he enjoyed kissing Rey. She’d been so warm in his arms, and he’d nearly forgotten that they were only kissing to distract someone from asking for an impromptu interview. He must have forgotten how fun kissing was. It had been a long time since he’d kissed anyone, but he didn’t remember liking it so much. That had to be the only explanation for why he kind of wanted to do it again.

Right?

She shook her head. “I’ve never come across anything like this in my studies, either. I’ll have to ask—”

He would have known how she was going to finish that sentence even without this newfound Force entanglement. “ _Don’t_ tell my uncle about this.”

She looked surprised. “Why not? Don’t you think it’s worth asking him about this?”

He wasn’t sure how to explain his hesitation to entrust Luke with anything Force-related. But it turned out that he didn’t need to; Rey sensed the reluctance before he had barely registered it was there. “You don’t want Luke knowing about this,” she said. “Because you’re afraid of what he’ll say.”

He scowled. She had no right to know about that part of his life, bodyguard or not. “Stay out of my head,” he snapped.

She winced. “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”

There was nothing to say in response to that. He yawned, even more exhausted than he had been when the whole stupid arugment had occurred. Was it his own fatigue he felt, or did he feel Rey’s on top of it?

“You should sleep,” she said, nodding at the bed.

The one bed.

That they were, presumably, going to share.

Ben couldn’t deny that there was definitely a safety thing involved in having his personal Jedi bodyguard nearby while he slept, but this wasn't exactly what he had in mind. He took up a lot of space simply due to his size, and he hated having anyone else in it, particularly the Jedi whose mind his was now tangled with. "So should you," he reminded her. He wasn't particularly inclined to get into another argument, especially after what had happened the first time, but he wasn't going to obey her simply because she was supposed to be his bodyguard.

"Ben," she said quietly, exhaustion visibly weighing on her posture. "Please."

It struck him that maybe her insistence on staying awake while he slept had less to do with safety and more to do with the fact that she didn't want to share a bed with someone she didn't know very well. It wasn’t like she’d know how much he liked to sprawl. "If this is about the one bed," he said, "I'll keep my hands to myself, I promise. I trust you to do the same."

"That's not it," she said, but he could sense her relax just a fraction in the Force. "Your uncle would never forgive me if something happened to you on my watch."

_Oh, for kriff's sake,_ he thought. He refused to give airtime to the tiny sliver of disappointment that she was more concerned about Luke’s feelings than Ben’s. "We're both exhausted," he said, glancing over at the sky that was looking distinctly pink now that dawn was approaching. "We should both sleep."

She held his gaze for a moment longer, then slumped as all the fight went out of her. "This is a one-time thing," she said as they crawled into the bed, trying to keep as much space between their bodies as possible. "I don't mind sharing an apartment. I don't even mind sharing a room. But I like having my own bed to sleep in."

"Same," he replied, weariness finally beginning to overtake them both. "Kriff, I can't believe we just argued about sleeping." If he hadn’t been so tired, he might have laughed over the stupidity of the whole dispute.

"Can we talk about it later?" she mumbled, the words slurred together. He would have replied, but he'd already drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Ben didn't understand why he felt physically and mentally off-kilter when he stirred the next morning. He woke up curled on his side, facing a wall he didn't recognize. There was another presence in the room—no, in the bed—which should have been alarming, but instead, he felt...well, safe. The illusion was shattered a moment later when he woke up some more and realized he was sharing a bed with Rey, his Jedi bodyguard to whom he still felt linked in the Force.

He knew she was still asleep by the faint hum of her Force signature, and when he sat up and looked at her, she was curled in a ball on her side in almost the exact mirror image of how Ben had just been laying. Even in sleep, she didn't look fully relaxed, making him wonder if she ever let her guard down.

Whatever. Rey’s hypervigilance wasn’t his problem. The chrono in the room indicated that it was mid afternoon, and the thing that had woken him up was the sound of his commlink going off, signaling that someone was trying to reach him. "Make it stop," Rey mumbled. Whether it was the commlink that woke her up or if it was because Ben was now awake, he didn't know and it seemed weird to ask.

"You may want to be awake for this," Ben said. "It's Luke."

"Kriff." She shot up, attempting to smooth back her hair, which had come undone from its three bun style while she slept. Despite the messy hair and makeup smeared on her face, she looked rather cute.

No. Not cute. She looked...disheveled, but in an endearing way. Less like a Jedi, which was a good thing in Ben’s book.

He probably didn't look too great, either, but he wasn't the one who was about to be on a holocall with his boss. "Hi, Uncle Luke," he said when the call came through.

"Ben? Where's Rey?"

"She's here," Ben said, looking over to where Rey was just out of sight of the camera. He could sense her reluctance to have this conversation; she wanted to discuss what had happened last night with Ben before they brought it up with Luke. Considering that Ben didn’t want to bring it up with Luke at all, he was certainly not going to talk about it now. "If this is about last night—"

“You know, when you two told me you were, uh, a thing, I thought it was a terrible idea,” Luke said. Ben had never discussed it with him directly, but he wasn’t surprised. Rey was, judging by the spark of alarm he felt from her in the Force. Kriff, that was going to get old real fast. “But it seems like it worked out well if Rey was able to save your life last night.”

Ben looked over at Rey, who was looking everywhere but him. "Yeah, it did work out," he said. When she didn't add anything, he turned his attention back to Luke. "If you're just calling to reassure yourself that we're okay, we're fine."

It took all of Ben’s self-control to avoid rolling his eyes at Luke’s unnecessarily dramatic sigh. Kriffing Skywalkers. "Your mother is going to comm you any second now. She and I talked about it, and we think you should take advantage of the Senate recess and go off-world for a little while." Ben wanted to ask what else they had talked about with regards to him and Rey, but then he decided that he probably didn't want to know. The idea of listening to his mother and his uncle discuss his love life, even if it was a fake love life, was vaguely nauseating. He must have been emitting a distress signal of some sort, because Rey finally looked up at him, concern in her eyes. He shook his head minutely, hoping that Luke wouldn't pick up on it.

"Where off-world are you suggesting?" he asked. "If you're about to say Yavin IV, the answer is no." He expected Rey to pipe up and insist that yes, Luke's Jedi Temple was the _perfect_ place to spend his Senate recess, but she kept quiet.

"What about Naboo?" Luke suggested. "We've got Naberrie cousins there. It's a really safe planet, and you won't draw much attention out in the Lake Country."

There was something mildly alarming about this scenario. It took Ben a minute to realize that it was exactly what another young padawan and senator had done more than half a century prior.

Rey gave him a questioning look—she must have sensed something in the Force again—but he knew without her saying anything that she'd wait to ask him about it once the conversation with Luke was over. Kriff, this level of non-verbal communication was disconcerting.

"That's not a bad idea," Ben admitted. "I'm not sure where else we'd go, anyway. Do you have a problem with this?" he asked Rey.

She shuffled over to sit next to Ben so that Luke could see her, too. "Naboo is fine," she said. "How do you suggest we get there safely if we're trying to outrun assassination attempts?"

Ben had the strongest deja vu when Luke said, "Travel under aliases. Don't draw attention to yourselves. The Naberries have a safe house you can stay in. You remember Varykino, don't you?"

He'd only been there once, when he was six years old. "Barely."

"Good, because your mother has already told them you're on your way." Luke sounded begrudging, making Ben wonder again what he and Leia had discussed while Ben and Rey had been locked in a deep, post-assassination attempt slumber. If there had been an argument—and he was positive there had—Leia must have won. She usually did.

They sorted out a few logistics, then Luke ended the comm, claiming he had a meditation session to run. "So," Ben said, turning to face Rey. They were still seated on the bed, which felt too intimate, but he had no idea what kind of surveillance the apartment was under. The bedroom seemed like the safest place to have a private conversation and besides, he was still a little sleepy. "Naboo." It was the safer conversation topic at the moment, although they wouldn’t be able to put off their discussion of this new connection between them for long.

Fortunately, Rey wasn’t in a rush to discuss it, either. “Have you ever been?” she asked.

“Once, when I was a kid. It was the first time my mother and uncle met some of their distant cousins, but I didn’t know that at the time. Their family history is…” He paused, searching for the most diplomatic word. “Complicated.”

He had no idea how much she knew about the story. She knew at least enough to ask, “Because of your grandparents?”

He nodded. “It wasn’t a secret that my mother was adopted, but it was a secret that her birth parents were a senator from Naboo and a Jedi Knight-turned-Sith. Ultimately, I guess she and my uncle decided that it would have been worse to bury the truth from me, although it did cause a bit of a political scandal when it became public knowledge.” It had earned him some hatemail and highly-publicized profiles that painted him in a rather negative light, but the fact that he’d turned his back on the Jedi lifestyle in favor of following in his mother’s footsteps worked in his favor.

She paused, taking that in. “Master Skywalker doesn’t keep it a secret, but he doesn’t talk about it much.”

Ben wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he asked her, “Have you ever been to Naboo?”

“This is the first time I’ve left Yavin IV since arriving there from Jakku,” she replied. “I’ve seen holos, though.”

“Do you like water?” he asked, thinking about Varykino.

She perked up at that. “My earliest memories are from life on a desert planet. I never really got over how miraculous large bodies of water are.”

He smiled. “Then you’ll like Naboo.”

* * *

They sorted out logistics faster than Ben had expected, leading him to wonder how much meddling his mother and uncle had done. The plan was that he and Rey would travel to Naboo using the aliases of a couple on their honeymoon. Having to pretend they were newlyweds might have been marginally less weird if their relationship had actually been real. Now they were faking a relationship on top of another faked relationship.

What they couldn’t sort out with a few simple comms, however, was whatever link had formed between the two of them the previous night.

“I’ve never heard of something like this,” Rey said as they were in their private cabin on the ship to Theed Spaceport. “I mean, I can practically hear your thoughts. Can you hear mine?”

“I sincerely hope you never have to listen to my thoughts,” he said dryly. “And no, I can’t hear your thoughts, but you’re right. This is more than simply being aware of another Force-sensitive.”

She thought about it. “I suppose this will add another layer to our training sessions.”

He frowned. “Training sessions?” When had he agreed to those?

“Well, I assume you’re not going to stop working out simply because you’re on vacation,” she explained. “I certainly don’t want to get out of shape. I do have to return to the usual Jedi lifestyle after this, you know.”

How could he forget? The fact that she was a Jedi was baked into her in a way that it had never been baked into him and she couldn’t go five minutes without reminding him. “I’m not resuming my studies of the ways of the Force.”

“Why not? Don’t you think this is something that should be explored?” She stepped closer to him, examining his expression. “You do,” she said. Ben could feel her prodding at him in the Force. He dreaded opening that box, but he wasn’t strong enough to keep Rey out. “You’re afraid of turning into your grandfather,” she breathed. “Oh, Ben.”

The pity in her tone was humiliating. “Get out of my head,” he snarled, backing away as if physical distance was going to change things. “Do _not_ do that again. My thoughts are not yours to examine.”

To give Rey credit, she did look apologetic. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know that would happen. I wasn’t trying to pry; your thoughts were simply...there.”

“Well, make it stop!”

Her expression shifted from apologetic back to angry. “As I’ve said multiple times now, I don’t know how. Maybe if you’d give in and let me ask Master Skywalker about it, we could get some answers.”

Luke’s own fears about Anakin’s legacy were the exact reason Ben didn’t want him to know about this. He snatched that thought and locked it up before Rey could see it. “We need to learn how to shield better,” he said. “I don’t want to be in your head all the time, either.”

“Well, good thing we’ve got an entire fake honeymoon, right?” she said lightly, attempting to bring some levity back into the conversation.

“I can’t believe we went from fake relationship to fake elopement in one breath,” he replied, grateful that the conversation had shifted topics. Detailing their fake marriage was uncomfortable, but it beat anything to do with the Force. “Who asked who to marry them?”

Rey grinned. “You asked me because you’re secretly a hopeless romantic and you knew that if I returned to my former life without a ring on my finger, you’d lose me for good.”

He grimaced at the thought of the phrase “hopeless romantic” applying to him in any context. “That is far too specific to be something you came up with on the fly.”

“Maybe I’m just faster on my feet than you give me credit for,” she shot back. “Keep up, Ben.”

He raised an eyebrow. If that was how she wanted to play it… _Game on, Rey,_ he thought. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second, making him wonder if she’d actually been able to hear that thought, but she didn’t comment on it. Either way, it was enough to bring his mood back down to sullen.

It wasn’t a terribly long journey from Hosnian Prime to Naboo, and they were traveling fairly light. Rey didn’t have much other than what she’d brought from the Jedi Temple, and Ben had never been one for owning a bunch of useless stuff. The one thing of value that he did take with him was his old lightsaber, which had been sitting in a box in the back of his closet collecting dust for the last thirteen years. He didn’t mention he was bringing the weapon to Rey; she’d probably be pleased, and he didn’t want to give her that victory. It wasn’t that he’d wanted to bring it so much as it was that something kept whispering to him as he packed, and it didn’t seem wise to ignore such blatant messages from the Force at the moment.

Leia had commed while Ben and Rey were packing for their “vacation,” expressing her relief that they’d escaped the third assassination attempt unscathed and decided that going offworld for the Senate recess was the best course of action.

“Naboo is wonderful,” she’d said. “Your father and I—”

“Wow, look at the time,” Ben had replied, not wanting to hear about his parents’ relationship. “We have to go. Bye, Mom.”

Now, on the ship to Naboo, he and Rey were killing time with a game of dejarik, although it was half-assed at best. They were both all too aware of the other, although they’d managed to patch up shields enough to feel marginally more comfortable around each other.

“Is this how you thought you’d be spending your time off?” Rey asked.

Ben snorted. “Hardly.”

“What do you usually do during your Senate recesses?” she asked, clearing the board after losing the last round.

He shrugged. “Work out. Start researching upcoming bills and trials for the next session. Trawl the HoloNet, looking for ways to beat a Jedi at dejarik.” The joke earned him a smile full of genuine affection, which made him feel warm all over.

Huh. He liked that. He’d have to work on eliciting more of those from her.

“What about you? What do you do during your Jedi Academy vacations?” Whenever the Jedi Order went on holiday breaks, Ben had always been left on Yavin IV without fail. Occasionally one or both of his parents would show up for a day or so, but they never took him back with them. That wasn’t the case for everyone; he’d had plenty of classmates who spoke to their families weekly and spent every holiday back on their home planets. Ben was simply unlucky enough to be a low priority for his parents.

“Nothing much,” she told him. “Train. Meditate. Explore the forest around the temple. It’s not like I had anywhere to go or anyone waiting for me.”

“So I guess we’re both a little out of our depth here,” he said. “Neither of us knows how to take a vacation, much less a fake honeymoon.”

“Quick, let me do some HoloNet research,” she quipped, moving Monnock into and attack position.

“Is this the same woman who assured me she knew how to fake a relationship because she’d seen holofilms?” he teased.

He was rewarded with a pretty pink blush staining Rey’s cheeks. “You of all people should know how limited the options for entertainment are around the Jedi Temple,” she replied dryly.

That was all it took for his mood to drop. The fact that Rey could feel it immediately made it even worse. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s fine.”

“Clearly, it isn’t.”

He bit the inside of his cheek, willing himself to calm down. If he stayed in the room with Rey, there would be no hiding his temper...although there was probably no hiding it anyway, given their newfound Force connection. “I’m going for a walk,” he said, knowing that physical space was the next best thing. “Don’t worry, your knightliness. I won’t go far.”

“Ben—”

“Five minutes,” he said tightly. “Can you just give me five minutes?”

She sighed, but she didn’t say anything else when he stepped out of the room. The door slid shut behind him and he slumped against it, taking deep breaths and counting them backwards from ten. He could feel Rey right on the other side of it, her regret and understanding barely restrained in the Force. This was absolutely not what he signed up for—what either of them signed up for—when they’d agreed that faking a relationship would solve their bodyguard problems. The best he could do right now was count on this connection being a temporary thing.

* * *

For all that Ben had been frustrated with Rey and the forced vacation to Naboo, he loved watching her expression as they landed in Theed spaceport. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Look at all the waterfalls. I’ve only ever seen those in holos.”

“It is,” he agreed, trying to stop himself from staring. “You know, I think I’m finally starting to look forward to a vacation now that we’re here.”

She turned back to him then, grinning. “See if you’re still saying that in five minutes when we’re all ‘sweetheart’ and ‘my dove’ at each other.”

After he’d cooled off from their fight over the latest argument about acknowledging Ben’s past with the Jedi Order, things had been tense until they’d reached the Naboo system. Knowing they were nearly at their final destination made it easier to breathe, something that Rey had noticed as well.

And then there was something else he’d caught. They’d been hesitant about public displays of affection now that they were no longer trying to put on a show for cameras or portray newlyweds. Plenty of couples didn’t feel the need to make out in public. Why should they be any different? But the thing was, it wasn’t just about the kissing. There were other little gestures that people in relationships made. Holding hands and the like. Ben didn’t want to intrude on her space, nor did he want her intruding on his space, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted some of the more affectionate gestures.

But that was only so that their relationship would seem more plausible, of course. 

“A couple of my relatives are staying in Varykino, so we won’t have the place to ourselves, unfortunately,” he told her, reading over some of the messages on his datapad.

“What, you’re upset that we won’t have the freedom to celebrate our honeymoon exactly as we like?” It took her a minute to realize what she was implying; by then, Ben’s face felt as hot as a sun and he was struggling to think of a good response rather than consider all the sex they could potentially be having. Not because he was fantasizing about her, of course; he was merely thinking of the logistics of it, and his thoughts were leading him down a path that he probably shouldn’t follow.

“I didn't mean it like—” Rey added quickly, face red despite the Jedi composure he knew she was drawing on at the moment. Which meant that oh, kriff, she was thinking about it too, wasn’t she? That was a rabbit hole he didn’t need to go down right now, particularly when it only took one small misstep to lose control of their mental link.

“I know,” he said, cutting her off before she could put her foot in her mouth any further. “I mean, obviously _that_ won’t be happening, but it does mean that we’ll need to keep up this charade.”

She nodded, still pink-cheeked. “It’s fine,” she said. “We seem to have convinced enough people thus far.”

“Right.” His mind was still caught on the logistics of potential honeymoon sex, which was _not_ helpful right now. Fortunately, the ship had docked by then and people were spilling out into Theed spaceport, preventing them from needing to continue the conversation.

They hadn’t discussed it, but considering recent developments, would their relationship have an expiration date in three weeks? That was a question that would need to be addressed at some point, but Ben was happy enough to push it out of his mind for now. Despite the circumstances that provided their need to hide away on Naboo for a little while, he was actually starting to see this as a vacation of some sort now that they’d landed.

The last leg of the journey from Theed to Varykino was uneventful. Neither Ben nor Rey spoke much; she seemed like she just wanted to take it all in and he was more than happy to let her enjoy it in silence. As they neared the retreat where, presumably, some of his relatives were waiting, she leaned into him, tucking her head against his neck. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders; the gesture felt more like a reflex than an active decision. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she murmured. She sounded truly relaxed for the first time in days.

“I’m glad you’re safe, too,” he replied, feeling lighter as well. “Now come on. Let’s go meet the least dramatic branch of my family tree.”

* * *

The downside to staying in a house with relatives who had to be convinced that they were in love was that it put them in the awkward position of having to share a bed for the duration of their stay on Naboo.

“It’s a big bed,” Rey said, sounding far more assured about the situation than her Force signature let on.

Not that he was in any position to judge; he was just as uncomfortable, if not more so. It was complicated enough to share an apartment with a secret Jedi bodyguard. How the hell was he going to share a room with her?

“It’ll be fine,” he replied. He had no doubt that she could detect how nervous he was about this. What was it going to be like, waking up by her side when they weren’t exhausted from an assassination attempt the night before?

Well, he’d find out soon enough, he supposed.

“I’ll stick to my side, and you’ll stick to yours,” he added, trying not to focus on waking up next to Rey. He’d never been a particularly sound sleeper—nightmares had plagued him as far back as he could remember—but he wasn’t sure what an appropriate way to warn her would be. Maybe they’d get lucky and she wouldn’t have to witness post-nightmare Ben at all.

She nodded, which did nothing to dispel the awkward air between them. “Your relatives seem nice,” she offered.

“I don’t know them very well,” he replied. “It’s my mother who keeps in touch with them more than me.”

“Will she be joining us at some point?” It was unclear from her tone if she liked the idea of his mother playing third wheel to their fake relationship or not.

“Probably, since the Senate recess means that she’s not working right now, either.” He loved his mother, but he was happiest when there was a little distance between them. She was far too happy about the idea of Ben being in love, and the fact that she liked Rey so much didn’t exactly help matters.

“She seems really happy for us,” Rey said, pulling the thought directly from his mind. Wait, _had_ she actually pulled that thought from his mind? No way. It simply made sense given the context of the conversation. But— “You were just thinking the same thing, weren’t you?” she asked when she saw his expression.

He didn’t answer right away. “I don’t like this,” he said.

“It’s not particularly fun for me, either,” she said. “Do you think it’s permanent? It doesn’t feel like it’s fading.”

“Kriff, I hope not,” he muttered, sitting down on the bed and resting his elbows on his knees. “I don’t need Jedi banthashit filling my mind all day, and I don’t think you care about Chandrilan politics.”

“That’s not true,” she said. “Maybe about the first part, but I—” She faltered slightly. “I mean, I know it’s part of our cover story, but I really do find it interesting, watching you work. The Jedi Order is so cut off from the rest of the galaxy sometimes.

“Luke brought me to Hosnian Prime to be your bodyguard, yes, but he’s also pleased that I’m learning more about the galactic government. I may not be much use as a politician, but I like knowing how it all works.”

The thought that she found him interesting—or, rather found an aspect of his life interesting—made Ben’s cheeks heat up. “Really?” he asked, unable to keep his skepticism out of his tone.

“Yes, really,” she replied, sitting down in an armchair placed across the room from the bed. “I wasn’t sure what to expect of you at first, but you’ve surprised me. In a good way.”

He was curious to know what his former classmates may have said about him when they heard that Luke was bringing her to be his bodyguard, but then he decided that he was probably better off not knowing the answer. “For what it’s worth,” he told her, “you aren’t what I expected, either. In a good way.”

Now she was the one who was blushing, a distinctively pink tint to her cheeks. It was a rather fetching look on her. He was mildly alarmed to realize this wasn’t the first time he’d thought that. “Thanks, Ben.”

“You’re welcome.”

There was another silence, but this one felt less awkward than the last. He could almost hear Rey thinking, but it was more like the hum of a radio in another room. It was still intrusive, but it wasn’t as distracting as it had been a day ago. “No news from Hosnian Prime security?” she asked, pulling out her datapad.

“I haven’t heard anything,” he confirmed, although he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to his comms since he’d been so distracted by Rey’s presence in his head.

“We need to make a plan for what to do while we’re here, aside from lay low and pretend to be in love,” she said.

“What, like a plan for uncovering this assassination plot?” He was already exhausted at the idea of having to worry more about this.

“We have two weeks before you have to be back on Hosnian Prime. Yes?” He nodded. “I propose that we spend these two weeks trying to figure out the point of these attempts and training you in the Force with the primary goal of learning how to deal with this—this _thing_ we now have,” she said, gesturing at the space between them.

“Solid plan. How do you suggest we accomplish those things?”

“We can start by reaching out to Hosnian Prime Public Security and seeing what they’ve found in your apartment. We can also look at your political opponents and see if they have the means to hire assassins. I think knowing the motivation for this would go a long way to figuring out who’s behind it, because then we could see if anyone else was being targeted. Surely you aren’t the only controversial politician in the Republic.”

He didn’t like the way she said “controversial,” but he shrugged. “Despite all evidence to the contrary, there were a number of politicians who thought that my mother and I were planning on following in his footsteps when people found out that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were the same person a few years ago. The saving grace for me was seeing that I’d rejected all study and use of the Force; my mother’s long-standing reputation from her work in the Rebellion was enough of a reason for people to know that she had no plans to follow in Anakin’s footsteps.”

She snorted. “Right, because political views are biologically inherited.”

Her response surprised him. “You didn’t know about this?”

“I’d heard some things about it, but not the details. Master Skywalker was open about it when students had questions, but he doesn’t like talking about it. Besides, he made the decision to not resurrect all of the traditions and teachings of the old Jedi Order, and he’s always been open about why he made those decisions. I think he’d be open to suggestions from older Jedi as well, but I’m nowhere near that point yet.”

There it was again, the suggestion that she didn’t think anyone took her seriously as a Jedi. She was powerful in the Force, no doubt about that, but judging from the way she fought, she wasn’t simply given the rank of Jedi Knights for fun. “What about the other thing?” he asked. “Learning to deal with—this.” He waved his hand between them the same way she had earlier. “We need a name for it other than gestures.”

“It’s a Force bond,” she said.

“A Force bond,” he repeated. The words rang a bell, but he couldn’t place where he’d heard it before. Maybe it only seemed familiar because it was an innate thing in him.

She nodded. “I did a little bit of HoloNet research, looking into the records and information we have at the Jedi Temple. I couldn’t find much, but I did see mentions of a ‘Force bond’ that sometimes occurs between two Force-sensitive individuals. I’m not sure if that’s what this is, thought,” she said, looking down at the floor. “They only form between a master and a padawan or between…” She cleared her throat. “Between lovers.”

Ben’s face was hot enough to rival Mustafar. “Th-that’s not—” he stuttered.

“No, definitely not,” Rey was quick to say. “This isn’t a master-padawan relationship, and we are most certainly _not_ lovers. I mean, we’re pretending to be, but the Force isn’t the sort of thing that can be fooled by that.”

“Right.” Why had his voice just sounded so squeaky? _Please, please let Rey not comment on that,_ he prayed to anything listening.

“Do you still not want to tell your uncle about it?” she asked. “Maybe he has information that’s not available on the Jedi Temple network. I know he has a collection of old books somewhere.”

Ben shook his head. “I still think we should try to figure it out on our own first,” he said. “I may not have gone anywhere near the Jedi or used the Force until recently, but I think we should see if we can break it before we call in someone else. I don’t want Luke to think—” He stopped himself, afraid to voice the rest of the sentence.

“You think what?” Rey asked softly, moving to sit next to him on the bed. “You’re scared of something, I can tell.”

He scowled at the floor, refusing to acknowledge how much he appreciated the way she’d moved closer to him. He felt better when she was nearby. Safer. Warmer. It was something he’d noticed since they’d formed the Force bond a day and a half prior. He hadn’t been able to sleep much since then, afraid to let his guard down in case she could see his nightmares. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered.

“I honestly hate to intrude, but we’re probably going to have to talk about it at some point if this doesn’t stop,” she pointed out.

He knew she was right, but he wasn’t ready to admit it. When he didn’t respond, she sighed. “We’re both still exhausted,” she said. “It’s been a really long couple of days. I don’t know about you, but I could barely sleep a wink on the trip here.”

“Are you suggesting we go to sleep?” he said, glancing at a chrono. It wasn’t very late, but he could feel the exhaustion dragging at him, too. “You don’t want to argue about one of us needing to stay awake to keep watch again?”

“Oh, hush,” she said, elbowing him lightly. When he looked over at her, a smile was playing on her lips. “I think we learned the hard way not to start that argument again. Besides, we’re safe here. Can’t you feel it?”

He could. Without the constant hum of being in a city, it was easier to filter out the chatter in the Force. Varykino was mostly staffed by droids, and the few organics who were in the vicinity were Ben’s distant cousins. The house and grounds were full of the highest security sensors that credits could buy, and Ben and Rey had bolted the bedroom door behind them. “I think you’re right. Sleep now, and handle everything else in the morning once we’ve had some rest.” Would it be more awkward to acknowledge the shared bed situation, or would it be better to just ignore it? They’d already shared a bed once. It hadn’t resulted in the best night’s sleep, but then again, they had just survived an assassination attempt.

In response, Rey flopped backwards, apparently claiming that side for herself. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

* * *

Ben woke up the next morning from the deepest sleep he’d had in days, dreams of kisses and hazel eyes still hanging around his mind, causing him to wake up hard and aching. Normally, waking in such a state wasn’t a problem; he’d seek release by his own hand and then carry on his morning at usual. But the fact that he didn’t recognize where he was when he opened his eyes gave him pause, and he nearly wanted to die when he realized that he’d been sharing a bed with Rey.

Kriff, he was glad he’d woken up facing the wall. He didn’t move a muscle as he reached out in the Force, trying to see if she was awake. The answer came instantaneously: she was meditating elsewhere in Varykino. Which meant that she wasn’t paying attention to him, and he wasn’t going to horrify her with his rather inconvenient erection.

He flopped back on the bed, thinking. It had been a rather trying few days. He’d earned a little stress relief, hadn’t he?

Mind made up, he rolled out of bed, grabbing a set of clean clothes and a towel for the shower. Less risk of Rey bursting into the room and seeing him jerking off in the bed they were sharing. No thank you.

The water from the shower helped wake him further, chasing the remnants of his dreams from his mind. He didn’t remember much other than the partner in his dreams being a slender human female, but that was fine. Usually his fantasies involved nameless, faceless humanoids of all genders. He may not have felt attraction much to others, but abstract sexual fantasies didn’t require names and faces to go along with the beings involved.

He made quick work of his usual shower routine, then paused before picking back up where his dream had left off. The last thing he needed was for Rey to be alerted of Ben’s current state, especially after the talk of Force bonds and lovers the previous night. But no, she was still deep in meditation, and Ben was certain that his mental shields would be strong enough to keep his thoughts private until she decided that her morning meditation was over.

He leaned back against the shower wall, trying to recall his dream. Aside from the presence of a human woman, he wasn’t sure of the specifics, but his imagination was able to fill in the blanks.

And it kept drifting back to Rey.

_He’s lying on his back as a woman rides his cock, hands balanced on his chest and her head thrown back as she desperately tries to chase her orgasm. She looks down at him and it’s Rey’s face he sees._

No, that wasn’t—he shouldn’t be thinking of her _like that._ He tried again.

_He’s on his feet as someone kneels in front of him, lips wrapped around his erection with her hand working what her mouth can’t. He’s holding her by her hair as he thrusts into her mouth. She’s happy to let him fuck her face as she reaches down between her legs, seeking her own release. He tangles his fingers in her hair, disheveling the three buns—_

He paused, feeling frustrated. This was only happening because they’d spent so much time together lately, surely. Never mind the fact that he’d never put a name and a face to any of his sexual fantasies before, and the thought of Rey _like that_ made his cock absolutely throb.

_He’s on his knees, kneeling behind a woman as he pounds into her from behind. She’s so hot and so tight that it makes his head spin. He’s so close to coming; he can tell they’re going to come together from the way she’s already starting to clench on his cock. The thing that does it for him is the sound of Rey’s voice, saying his name. “Ben…”_

“FUCK.”

It took a minute for Ben to come down from his high. As soon as he realized he’d just made himself come thinking of Rey, he started to panic.

How the hell was he ever going to be able to look her in the eye again after this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Pooja Naberrie](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Pooja_Naberrie) and [Ryoo Naberrie](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ryoo_Naberrie) are Leia and Luke’s cousins.
> 
> Is Ben ever going to be able to look Rey in the eye again?? Tune back in in two weeks to find out in chapter 6, "Varykino"!


	6. Varykino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect of Leia’s son and his partner when they showed up here, but it’s been nice having them around. I think Varykino has been good for them, too. They looked absolutely exhausted when they showed up last week, but they’re noticeably more carefree now. I can’t say that sparring is my idea of a relaxing activity, but I suppose that’s what happens when you’re a Skywalker and you date a Jedi._ — Ryoo Naberrie’s journal, 34/04/03 ABY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to a series of unfortunate events (actual events, not the book/netflix series), I haven't been able to get online for most of the last month, hence the skipped update. I'm aiming to get back on the regular update schedule, but things are still shaking out for me so I can't guarantee anything.

Varykino was quite possibly the most beautiful place Rey had ever seen.

When she’d first arrived on Yavin IV, she’d been amazed at the sight of so much green and so many trees in one place. On Jakku, it had been endless amounts of tan sand dunes and broken-down Star Destroyers; she’d never even dreamed that it was possible to see this much life in one place. But after spending over a decade there, the amazement had long ago worn off. 

Hosnian Prime had been interesting; she’d never seen a city outside of holos before, and after getting accustomed to the sheer amount of life concentrated in one place, she’d enjoyed exploring the Senate Complex while doing her duty as a Jedi bodyguard.

And then she’d arrived on Naboo.

Ben had told her a few things about Varykino on the trip from Hosnian Prime, but he hadn’t given her any specifics. “I’ve only been there once, and I was a little kid” was his explanation for the lack of detail. Rey wasn’t sure if she was happy about being surprised or not; it had been almost overwhelming, and she’d been grateful for his presence by her side. It had been easier than she’d expected to fall into the role of Ben’s girlfriend in front of his cousins, which would have been alarming if they hadn’t just spent a week trying to convince everyone in sight that they were madly in love. She supposed that they were simply becoming better actors than they’d thought they were before.

Of course, the fact that they were now linked on such a deep level no doubt contributed to the ease at which they pretended to be completely gone for each other. The connection was unsettling; upon waking that morning and seeing that Ben was still deep in slumber, she’d slipped out of the room and gone to meditate on one of the many balconies the house had. Between the enchantment of the lake and feeling Ben deep in sleep, it had been difficult to get her mind to quiet down at first. Eventually, she’d been able to fall into that space deep in the Force, searching for answers.

What was the bond she and Ben had accidentally created? Was it truly a Force bond, like she’d read about? If so, how the hell had they forged one? Neither was the other’s padawan, and they sure as shit weren’t lovers, no matter what they were trying to convince the rest of the galaxy of.

And regardless of whether it was a true Force bond or not, how were they supposed to control it? She’d woken at one point chasing a nightmare that didn’t feel like her own. When she’d rolled over to look at Ben, he’d been frowning in his sleep, and she could tell how tense his entire body was even under the covers. She’d been afraid to wake him—he needed the sleep; they both did—but she’d been able to feel the echoes of his pain, so she’d done the only thing that felt right and laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to push feelings of safety and serenity through the Force. After a few minutes, he’d visibly relaxed, and she’d been able to feel the contented drowsiness that was now consuming his dreams.

It had been enough to make her curl up under the covers, facing away from him lest he wake to see that she’d been watching him sleep.

Because that would have been inappropriate, obviously. It was one thing to share a bed when they were so exhausted from surviving an assassination attempt that they could barely stand. It was a completely different one to continue to share a bed in order to keep up appearances.

Stars, she hoped they solved the mystery of the assassination attempts soon. She was certain she’d already bungled this assignment, and the sooner it could end, the better. It wasn’t that she disliked Ben, but things were starting to feel a bit confusing. It was frustrating that he refused to concede about asking Luke for help with the Force bond—assuming that was what it was—but she could sense that he had a good reason for it. As curious as she was about why Ben felt the need to hide something like this from his uncle, she wasn’t going to pry. She’d rather coax it out of him, and maybe she’d be able to do that if she could convince him to let her train him in the Force.

Rey lost track of time with how deep she was in her meditation. The thing that tugged her out of it was a jolt that she detected as coming from Ben’s end of the bond. He must have woken up and felt surprised at his surroundings. She’d nearly done the same earlier this morning. Normally, what pulled her out of her morning meditation was the rumbling of her stomach, indicating it was time for breakfast. This felt unusual, but...well, it was oddly reassuring to know that he was awake and safe, even if the jump had been accompanied by a hint of panic.

She stood up, stretching her limbs as she did so. Stars, she hoped that they had good breakfasts on Naboo.

* * *

Ben was already in the dining room by the time Rey came downstairs for breakfast, looking freshly showered. “Good morning,” she said, sitting down at the table next to him. He was alone, but there were two more places set on the other side of the table for one of the other guests, presumably.

“Morning,” he grunted, staring at his caf like it was the most fascinating thing in the galaxy. Was it her imagination, or did his cheeks look a little pink? The thought that he knew what she’d done to soothe his nightmare occurred to her; maybe he was embarrassed that she knew what he’d been dreaming about.

Or maybe he was simply in desperate need of caffeine. Within two days, she’d picked up how poorly he functioned without caf in his system. She might have found it endearing if she’d actually been his girlfriend; instead, it was simply annoying.

“So I was thinking,” she said after a few minutes of eating breakfast in silence. “Our first priority today should be getting the latest information from Hosnian Prime security about the would-be assassin they captured. Then we should—”

“We need to figure out how to get rid of this Force bond thing,” he said, cutting her off.

She frowned. “I was going to say, we should train together. But we can make dealing with this Force bond part of that.”

“It’s inconvenient and I can’t live the rest of my life having a mental tether to a Jedi.” He sliced a pear in half rather violently. Whether it was for intentional dramatic effort or not was unclear. Either way, it was unnecessary, given the way the tension had just ratched up to an eleven.

“Yes, you’ve said.” She didn’t want to be bound to a politician who held such disdain for all things Jedi, either, but she couldn’t help the sting of rejection at the knowledge that he wanted to be rid of her.

“Kriff,” he muttered, dropping his utensils so that he could run his hands through his hair in frustration. “I felt that.”

“Felt what?” she asked. Not a physical sensation, surely. But if not that, then—

“You think I’m abandoning you,” he told her. “Rey, it’s not like that between us.”

She felt her face heat up. “I know it’s not,” she snapped. “I can’t help it. Abandonment is a sore spot for me. It isn’t personal.” She hadn’t told him the full story of how she came to be a student in the new Jedi Order, and if she had her way, he’d never have to find out. It had been bad enough when the older students and masters had found out about the way her parents had sold her for drinking money. It had been even worse when her friends and peers had found out a few years ago. She didn’t need anyone’s pity, least of all Ben’s.

She sneaked a glance at him to see a rather stricken expression on his face. “You can’t see it, can you?” she asked, hating how small her voice sounded.

He shook his head. “No, and I don’t want to. It’s your business, not mine. I’d hope you’d respect my boundaries as well.”

“I’m not going to take something that you won’t freely give,” she replied. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“A Jedi,” he retorted.

“What’s got you in such a mood this morning?” she grumbled, reaching for another scone. (Stars, the food here was excellent. She was going to have a hard time going back to food at the Temple after this.)

“Nothing.” He pushed himself back from the table, the chair scraping on the floor with the force of the movement. “I’ll be in the library. Come find me when you’re ready to go over the new information from Hosnian Prime Security.”

* * *

“So what you’re saying is, the one lead we did have turned out to be a bust.” Ben practically growled the words at Captain Ardellian’s holo. Rey could feel how incensed he was at the fact that Hosnian Prime security hadn’t noticed that the assassin had had an electric suicide capsule in his mouth, rendering him dead before they could start questioning him.

Even though the blue tint of the hollow, Rey could see the captain’s grimace. “We ran his biometrics through our systems. They found a name and a homeworld, but when we did a little more digging, we found out that his identity was fake. The real Tien Raysinger from Serenno died over fifty years ago during the Clone Wars.”

They didn’t get much more information out of Captain Adrellian, and they ended the holocall not long after that. “For kriff’s sake,” Ben seethed. “How incompetent do you have to be to not check for a suicide capsule in an assassin’s mouth? I’d knocked him unconscious. It wasn’t like he was awake to bite a medical droid’s arm off.”

“Calm down,” Rey said, although she was feeling rather incensed as well.

“I am not going to calm down,” he snapped. “That’s the third time in two weeks that someone has tried to kill me, and now I’m stuck here with you instead of catching up on work at home!”

Rey tried not to let the implication that he didn’t want her around bother her. She was mostly successful. “Come on,” she said, standing up.

Ben glanced over in her direction, but he didn’t look at her directly. She was starting to notice a pattern. Why was he afraid to look at her today? He wasn’t that upset about the sleeping situation, was he? She’d have to figure out a subtle way to find out if he was upset about the nightmare sharing. “No,” he grunted.

“You haven’t even heard what I’m going to say.”

“The answer is still no.”

“Ben.” No response. “Would you just look at me?”

She felt a jab of...something from him. Guilt, perhaps? It was gratifying to think that he might feel marginally remorseful over how rude he’d been towards her today. “What.”

“Let’s go train,” she said.

“I’m not in the mood for any Jedi banthashit right now.”

She shook her head. “I don’t mean in the Force. Let’s spar. I think we both could use it.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” he said, looking down at the blank datapad.

_Stupid, stubborn man,_ she thought. “We aren’t getting anything done here, and there’s plenty of room outside. You said it yourself a few days ago. The more you’re able to defend yourself, the better.” When he continued to stare at the datapad, she huffed. “Look, the sooner you can prove that you’re able to defend yourself from yet another assassination attempt, the sooner we can be done with this banthashit. If you don’t need me around to protect you, then I’ll finally be out of your life. Right?”

He sighed. “Fine,” he said, sounding resigned. “I’ll meet you outside in five minutes. I have to grab something first.”

She nodded, feeling slightly mollified. At least they’d be able to get something productive done today.

The land around Varykino was full of hills. Rey would have preferred a flatter surface for training, especially given Ben’s skill level, but a real fight could happen anywhere. This would have to do. She ran through some warm-up stretches while waiting for him to appear, and she felt rather than heard him approach. “You ready?” she asked without turning around to face him.

In response, she heard the sound of a lightsaber lighting up.

Rey groped for her lightsaber, which was still hilted on her belt. If he didn’t have hers, then— She whirled around to see Ben holding a saber with a light blue blade. _What the kriff?_ she wondered. “I thought you hated all things Jedi,” she said gasped, realizing he was holding his own lightsaber.

She could sense his amusement in the Force as easily as she could see it on his face. “I do, but that doesn’t mean I got rid of my lightsaber. You know just as well as I do what it means.”

_The saber is the heart of the Jedi._ She knew the saying; after all, she’d had to learn it while building her saberstaff. “So why bring it to Varykino?” she asked, admiring the sapphire hue of the blade.

He shrugged. “I had a feeling I’d need it.” Despite how annoyed she was with him, she was delighted by the fact that he’d held on to his weapon. “So, are we going to spar or what?”

How quickly he’d gone from prickly and annoyed to playful! Rey had no idea why the sudden change, but she wasn’t complaining. Maybe it was the fresh air; Force knew how invigorating she found that. “Give me all you’ve got.” She ignited her saber, then fell into a defensive stance. She knew how to be patient, but did Ben?

He shifted into a defensive stance as well, apparently thinking of the same strategy as Rey. His patience level was much lower than hers, however; within a minute of waiting, he leapt for her, and the fight began.

Rey had known from the start that she was going to go much easier on him than she would against her fellow Jedi knights. It was obvious that he still remembered some forms, but his movements were much slower than those of the knights and masters she’d trained with. Still, he was a formidable opponent, and Rey found herself having to work harder than she’d expected to evade his blows.

They lost themselves in the fight; once Ben found his groove, the way they moved felt closer to a dance than it did to anything even remotely violent. Despite the years since he’d last fought like this, Ben’s movements still carried a fluidity that made her wonder what he would have been like if he’d stayed on the Jedi path.

What would their relationship look like if he’d still been a part of the Jedi Order when she’d arrived?

There was no time to think about what-ifs now; Ben was advancing again, barely holding back his hits. Rey was more than capable of defending herself from him, but she checked some of her own blows. “Come on,” he said through gritted teeth as their sabers locked. “I know you’re holding back. Let go, Rey.”

“I have the advantage of having earned the title ‘Jedi Knight,’” she reminded him. “You can’t handle me at my best. I’m supposed to be protecting you, not injuring you.”

“Banthashit,” he said. “I think you’re afraid of your own power.”

She glared at him, then feinted and spun around to strike at his upper arm. She pulled back the blow before it could make contact, but there was no need; Ben’s saber was there, blocking hers. “Nice save,” she said, starting to feel rather breathless.

“You’re still holding back,” he pointed out.

“You still can’t take me at my best,” she countered.

They continued to spar, both of them losing track of time as they circled around each other, trading blows and near-misses as the sun moved across the sky. It wasn’t until Rey had Ben on his back, her knee pressed against his chest with her saber at his throat, that they stopped. “I yield,” Ben gasped, de-igniting his saber. “You win this time, Master Jedi.”

“Not a master yet,” she said, but she could feel the grin stretching across her face. “Not bad, for someone who hasn’t picked up a lightsaber in over a decade.”

They hadn’t moved aside from powering down their weapons; Rey was kneeling with one knee balanced on his chest and the other on the ground next to him. The sight of Ben like this gave her a sudden flash of another context in which she could have him flushed and breathless beneath her.

How had she not noticed how attractive he was before now?

The revelation was so surprising that it knocked her off-kilter for a moment as she attempted to push those thoughts out of his reach before he could remind her again that this wasn’t a real relationship.

Ben evidently hadn’t been struck by any similar thoughts that paralyzed him with shock. He cleared his throat. “Can you let me up?” He could have easily pushed her off of his chest, but then she’d probably wind up in his lap, which was not an appropriate post-sparring position and oh no, that put more thoughts in her head that she had to shake _immediately_.

“Of course,” she said, holding a hand out to him once she was standing. He glanced warily at it, then took it, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

Taking his hand was probably a mistake; as soon as their fingers touched, she felt as if she’d touched a live wire. It wasn’t quite the same as a shock of static electricity, but it was surprising enough that they both dropped their hands quickly, neither of them wanting to acknowledge it. It reminded her of the night they’d met. “Feeling less grumpy yet?” she teased.

“Maybe a little bit,” he said, although he still refused to make eye contact with her. Her mood plummeted. What was his problem today?

Rather than start a fight that she wasn’t sure was worth having, she said, “You fought well. We should do more of that.”

He nodded. “You fought well, too.” Tentatively, he added, “I also think it would be wise if I could fight better. You’ll have to excuse me for now. I should probably—I have work to do.” Without another word, he turned and made his way back towards the house, leaving Rey perplexed as to what his sudden departure was all about.

She shook herself. Whatever he was upset about was his business and he wasn’t going to share it with her. That was fine. They were safe enough here. She had a holocall she wanted to make, anyway.

* * *

“ _So, how goes the new assignment?_ ” Finn asked. As Rey’s closest friend and the most recently knighted Jedi except for her, he was the first person she thought to comm that afternoon. “ _I heard you heroically saved Senator Solo’s life after another near-miss._ ”

Rey rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t heroic,” she said. “I was simply doing my job.”

“ _A job that involves sharing his bed?_ ” The comment could have been leery; from Finn, it was simply amusing. Rey was dying to tell him everything, but she stopped herself. Holocalls could be tapped, and she didn’t want to be the one who let it slip that her relationship with Ben was a lie.

“It’s not just that,” she said. It was the truth, technically. “I don’t know how to explain it. We’ve never met before—he left before I arrived at the temple—but there’s this familiarity, like we’ve known each other for a long time. And now there’s this connection—” She cut herself off. She trusted Finn to not run off and tell Luke, but she didn’t want to aggravate Ben any further by discussing their secret with another person. At least, not until she knew what he was so worked up about today.

Finn’s eyebrows shot up. “ _Sounds romantic,_ ” he said.

“I suppose.”

“ _You don’t sound particularly convinced.”_

She had to at least make some effort. “Like I said, I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve never felt a connection like this before with any other Force-sensitive. Even—” She’d been about to say _even you_ , which wasn’t entirely fair to Finn.

Rey and Finn had arrived on Yavin IV around the same time. Her freedom had been bought from Jakku, while he’d just barely survived an attack on the village he’d been born in on a small planet near the Unknown Region. To this day, they’d never learned who or what was behind the attack; Finn had no memories prior to his arrival at the Jedi Temple due to the trauma he’d experienced. There had been other students of a similar age in their cohort, but neither of them had developed a close friendship with anyone else.

“It’s strange, that’s all,” she finished, hoping that Finn wouldn’t call her out.

“ _What’s Hosnian Prime like?”_ he asked, taking her cue to change the subject.

“Busy. I didn’t realize the galaxy was so big. I think it’s easy to feel cut off on Yavin IV. Master Skywalker must be hoping to change that, if his decision to allow me to stay there is any indication.”

Finn snorted. “ _Honestly, I think he’s just happy that you’re dating his nephew. I think he thinks that will pull the senator back to studying the Jedi arts."_

“Then he doesn’t know Ben very well. He refuses to even entertain the notion of returning to the Jedi Temple.” She couldn’t keep the frustration out of her voice, something that Finn picked up on.

“ _I bet that’s fun for you,_ ” he said dryly.

“It’s...a sore spot,” she said carefully. “He hasn’t told me why he left or why he refuses to go back, and I respect that boundary.” _Even if I am dying to know what the story is,_ she wanted to add. “I haven’t asked any of the other Jedi what they think about them, and you shouldn’t, either.”

That was something she was also curious about, but she doubted it was wise to go around asking Ben’s former classmates about him. She wasn’t close enough to most of them to feel comfortable bringing up what seemed to be a raw nerve for everyone involved.

“ _I wasn’t going to,_ ” Finn replied. _“If you’re happy, I’m happy._ ”

‘Happy’ was not exactly how Rey would put it. “I’ll be happier when we stop whoever is behind the attempts on his life,” she said. At least this wasn’t a lie.

“ _Wouldn’t that mean that you’d have to return to the Temple?”_

She hadn’t thought far enough ahead about this. She and Ben had agreed to give their fake relationship a month; if they didn’t figure out who or what was the cause of all the trouble, they’d pretend that their love had faded as quickly as it had arisen and return to their separate lives. But if she was as in love with him as she wanted everyone to believe, she couldn’t be thinking about how they were going to end. “I’m sure Master Skywalker will see there’s a need for me to stay on Hosnian Prime,” she said instead. “I’m a full Jedi Knight now, and I can make regular trips out to Yavin IV when needed. I don’t think it’s a bad idea for Jedi to venture out into the galaxy.”

Finn nodded. “ _Just as long as you still have time for your best friend,”_ he joked.

Rey felt the first genuine smile cross her face since the conversation had started. “Of course,” she told him. “I’ll always have time for you, Finn, regardless of what my relationship with Ben is like.”

“ _I still can’t believe you’re dating Master Skywalker’s nephew._ ”

“Trust me,” Rey said, trying to keep herself from checking in on him through the Force. “Neither can I.”

She and Finn continued to catch up on the latest happenings on Yavin IV. A new padawan had arrived, and rumor had it that she was going to be assigned to Master Veila. Master Brakiss had found a new jogan fruit tree grove, and they’d had jogan fruit cake for dessert every night that week. A new mechanic from Hays Minor (who, Finn noted, was cute, even if she’d clocked him due to a misunderstanding the first time they’d met) had arrived recently to help upgrade the Temple’s old power generators. She was glad they’d had a chance to talk, and they ended the call with her promising to check in with him sooner rather than later. “ _Don’t get too wrapped up in your fairytale romance,_ ” he joked.

She rolled her eyes again. “Bye, Finn.”

With the comm ended, she laid back in the grass. It was so soft, unlike anywhere else she’d been. And it was so warm in the sun, making her feel so comfortable and sleepy…

_Rey._

She jumped, reaching out in the Force and turning around here to scan for whoever had spoken. It had sounded like Ben’s voice, except he’d shut himself in the library, claiming he had work to do. Rey had been more than happy to let him have his space, but now she was starting to worry that it had been a mistake to let herself get so distracted out here.

She couldn’t stop herself from taking a minute to stare out at the lake in front of them. Stars, this was such a beautiful place. How Ben didn’t spend more time here, she’d never know.

Keeping a metaphorical eye on Ben, she made her way back into the house, trying to see if he was in a better mood. His mind was still as walled-off as he could manage; clearly, he wasn’t feeling any more social now than he had been earlier. With a frustrated huff, she decided to wait until after she showered to go find him. Maybe he was simply offended that she still smelled like sweat and grass stains.

There was an odd familiarity of sharing living quarters like this that Rey found surprising. She’d lived in communal housing for most of her life, having shared a room as a young padawan and then getting her own room in a dormitory when she hit her teenage years, but that wasn’t anything like what she and Ben were doing right now. It was intimate in a way she wasn’t sure she was entirely comfortable with, seeing the way their various soaps and toiletries were lined up in the fresher.

Judging by the number of hair products, Ben had left behind the Jedi mindset of modesty. Rey grinned, inspecting the bottles closely. No wonder he had such nice hair. She was sorely tempted to try it out on her own locks, but she doubted it would improve his mood if he noticed that she’d been using his things.

Half an hour later, having run out of excuses, she made her way into the library. No one had shown her where it was; she’d simply followed her sense of _Ben_ until she was standing in the doorway of an ornate room that didn’t look anything like the library on Yavin IV. She gaped, wondering how anyone could come to own so many books.

“Are you done gawking?” Ben said without looking up at her. He was bent over a desk, tapping notes into a datapad.

“What’s got you in such a mood today?” she snapped, unable to hold back any longer.

“I am not _in a mood._ ”

“No?” she asked. “Then why are you glaring at that datapad like it personally wronged you?”

His scowl depend. “Because there’s nothing useful in these reports. No obvious connection I can see. No political gossip, either on the HoloNet or from anyone Korr has been in touch with. I have no idea where to go from here, and I’m starting to think that we’d get faster results if we went back to Hosnian Prime and waited for their next attempt.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” she said before she could stop herself. “You are not using yourself as bait.” 

He dropped the datapad on the desk, but he still refused to look at her when he said, “Do you have a better idea? Did the Force give you any clues as to who’s trying to kill me?”

“You and I both know the Force doesn’t work like that,” she said hotly. “I will tie you up before I let you go walking back to Republic City in hopes that whoever’s after you will decide to drop a few hints next time they send an assassin after you.”

There was a sudden burst of emotion from him, too fast for her to be able to parse anything other than anger, which she could see from how flushed he was. “You are _not_ tying me to anything,” he snapped. “I’m a senator representing a Core system. I don’t have time for games.”

She wanted to scream; instead, she took three deep breaths before replying. “Can we not argue over your personal safety for a little while?” she asked, praying that she sounded calmer than she felt. “I’m sick of arguing with you. What the hell is your problem today? If it’s something I did, just tell me.” _Things were so easy between us yesterday,_ she wanted to add. _What the hell, Ben?_

“No,” he said, a little too quickly. “This has nothing to do with you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Because it feels pretty personal. Making snide comments about the Jedi Order, acting like I’m only doing things to get in your way rather than save your life, telling me we need to get rid of this Force bond because you can’t stand having me in your head. You’re free to be angry with me, but at least be honest about it.”

He finally did look her way briefly before looking away again. “It’s not that,” he said stiffly. “I apologize. There is something, but it’s my problem, not yours.”

Some of the tension left her shoulders. She hadn’t realized how much she cared about his opinion of her until that moment. “I won’t pry,” she reminded him. “But this isn’t going to work if we’re not honest with each other. We may be pretending to be in love in front of the rest of the galaxy, but I don’t want us to have to lie to each other about where we stand.”

He nodded. “I know,” he replied.

“Good.” It was clear that there was more to it that he wasn’t talking about, but she trusted him when he said it had nothing to do with her. They’d both had a stressful few days. He was entitled to his own space, and she was entitled to hers as well. “I’m famished,” she said, needing to change the subject before they could get into another argument. “Join me for dinner?”

He paused before powering the datapad off. “Sure,” he said. “Lead the way.”

Dinner, like the other meals they’d had at Varykino, was something of a masterpiece. Rey was enchanted by all of the food; she did her best to enjoy it while ignoring the little voice in her head reminding her that this was just a temporary thing.

Ben’s cousins, Pooja and Ryoo, were thrilled at the idea of having a Jedi staying with them. “I saw you two sparring out on the lawn earlier,” Pooja said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. You Jedi move at practically superhuman speed sometimes.”

“Ben’s not a Jedi,” Rey reminded her before he could make a comment about it, “but he makes a good opponent, all things considered.”

“What things considered?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to be in a slightly more mollified mood than before. She wasn’t completely ready to forgive him for being such an asshole all day, but she’d take it.

She shrugged. “Oh, you know,” she said. “With your cushy politician job, you’ve stayed in shape surprisingly well.”

“I wouldn’t call my job ‘cushy,’” he said dryly. “It keeps me very busy, as you’re well aware.”

“But not too busy for me, right?” she replied, wishing that terms of endearment were a bigger part of her vocabulary. It would have been a good place for one, but she was so unused to them that nothing rolled off the tongue.

Ben, however, seemed to have it covered. “I’m never too busy for you, sweetheart.”

Pooja and Ryoo laughed. “Stars, if only the galaxy knew how adorable Senator Solo was when he’s off-camera,” Ryoo said.

“Please don’t tell them,” Ben deadpanned.

“Your secret’s safe with us,” Pooja replied with a wink.

* * *

They passed the next few days cycling through a combination of eating incredible meals with Ben’s cousins (and putting on a bit of a show in the process), combing over all possible leads as to who could be trying to kill Ben, arguing about the Force bond, and sparring when it became too much and they needed to burn off steam.

It quickly became apparent that Ben’s long-dormant muscle memory was waking up now that they were sparring with lightsabers on the regular. Rey was delighted to realize that she was having to work a little harder to defend herself against him each time they sparred, and he was open to critique as well.

“Wow, it’s almost as if you once went to Jedi school,” she joked the first time he had her pinned to the ground with his lightsaber pointed right at her heart.

The quip caused him to falter slightly as he powered down his weapon, wearing an expression that made it look like he was fighting back a smile. “I don’t remember it being this fun,” he admitted, holding out a hand for her to take.

They still hadn’t worked their way back to the ease that she’d felt the day they arrived at Varykino, and she was beginning to think that the ease had been the result of sleep deprivation making them both perceive things differently. Ben kept her at an arm’s length, which might have been less frustrating if they weren’t in each other’s faces all the time.

Or maybe it was frustrating because whatever mental link they’d created wasn’t waning. If anything, the bond was strengthening. If they weren’t careful, they could practically hear each others’ thoughts, something they’d discovered earlier when Rey burst into the library after feeling a jolt of shock echo through Ben’s body. She’d been in the process of getting dressed after a shower, and she’d instantly gone on such high alert that she hadn’t even thought twice about grabbing her lightsaber and bursting in in just her leggings and a lightweight undershirt that was far too sheer to be proper. Ben’s furious blush and the way he hadn’t been able to make eye contact might have been funny if she hadn’t been so embarrassed, because he was simply shocked about the result of yesterday’s podrace.

Now, Rey grabbed his hand, feeling her skin buzz all over with the contact. He didn’t drop it immediately, which was...something, she just wasn’t sure what. “Another round?” she asked, feeling more breathless than was reasonable for the amount of time they’d been sparring.

She expected him to turn her down and claim he had political work to do; instead, he nodded and stepped back into a defensive stance.

“Are you planning on carrying your lightsaber around with you now?” she asked.

He paused, considering. “You haven’t thought about that, have you?” she breathed. “Ben, if you’re so insistent on being able to protect yourself, you need to carry the lightsaber.”

He hesitated before admitting, “I don’t like what it represents."

She hadn’t been trying to get him to discuss it, but since he brought it up...“Your past?”

“Not just that. There’s a reason I left the Jedi Order.”

“You’ve told me,” she replied. “You felt it wasn’t the right calling for you.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” She could practically feel him trying to put his thoughts into words, which gave her an idea.

“Maybe…” She held out a hand. “If you don’t want to say it with words, maybe you could show me.” Even as she said the words, she knew what the answer would be. She let her hand drop as she looked down at the ground, trying not to let it show how stung she was by the idea that he had no desire to explore whatever link had been created between them. “Or not. It’s fine. We can just spar, if you’d rather.”

When she looked up again, he was giving her a resigned look. “I’ll tell you at some point,” he said. “But for now, can we drop it?”

She’d meant it when she’d said that she wouldn’t pry. But being offered this, a promise of an answer? She was thrilled by the idea that he trusted her. That he might be open to exploring the bond he had with her.

“Of course,” she replied, igniting her lightsaber. “Best two out of three?”

He grinned. Something fluttered in her stomach at the way it made his whole expression look lighter. “You’re on, Jedi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Brakiss](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Brakiss) and [Tahiri Veila](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tahiri_Veila) are part of the New Jedi Order (Legends). “Electric suicide capsule” is canon but there’s no wookieepedia link so you’ll just have to trust me if you care about canonicity.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan to update every other Tuesday. I've got the entire fic drafted but I'm still editing/fleshing out later chapters, hence the need for a buffer.
> 
> I am radioactivesaltghoul on [tumblr](https://radioactivesaltghoul.tumblr.com/) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/radioactivesaltghoul) and r_saltghoul on [twitter](https://twitter.com/r_saltghoul) (although I generally lay low on social media.)


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